Philipp Lahm and Xabi Alonso bowed out of professional football in Bayern Munich’s 4-1 Bundesliga win over Freiburg.
Bayern Munich bade farewell to Philipp Lahm and Xabi Alonso in fitting fashion with a 4-1 win over Freiburg on the final day of the Bundesliga season.
Arjen Robben, Arturo Vidal, Franck Ribery and Joshua Kimmich sealed a 25th win of the season for the champions and ensured they went a whole league campaign without defeat at the Allianz Arena for the first time since 2008.
The match was largely a tribute act to club captain Lahm and Alonso, however, who played their final matches before retiring from respective glittering careers.
Past greats of the club were presented to the crowd prior to kick-off before Lahm, ahead of his 517th appearance for Bayern, was granted a special tribute involving flowers, a golf bag and a mosaic in the stands with the message ‘from a child of our own to a legend of our club’.
It was Alonso who produced the first telling contribution of the two, however, setting up Robben to cut in from the right and rifle home.
Freiburg still had a top-five finish up for grabs and missed good chances through Mike Frantz, Janik Haberer and Nils Petersen before Vidal struck 17 minutes from time.
Former Bayern man Petersen struck his 19th Bundesliga goal as a substitute to set a new record, but Carlo Ancelotti’s side were not to be denied as Alonso and Lahm were replaced in the closing stages to a rapturous reception before Ribery bundled home a stoppage-time third and Kimmich – tipped to be either retiring great’s heir in the team – nodded in to round off the party.
