We are counting down the Top 10 Teams of the Decade—at No.2: Bayern Munich, 2012-13.
Bayern Munich won four trophies and were utterly dominant in 2012-13.
They lost just one game in the Bundesliga en route to being crowned champions with six games to spare, but it wasn’t until their 7-0 aggregate battering of Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals that the whole world acknowledged their brilliance.
Here was a team that was so tactically fine-tuned, so controlling on the pitch and capable of taking any team, any style, down. This was Bastian Schweinsteiger’s peak year; Javi Martinez alongside him was superb; Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery ran riot on the wings; the likes of David Alaba and Jerome Boateng haven’t reached these levels since.
On May 25, they overcame Borussia Dortmund to lift the Champions League trophy, then a week later, they produced one last effort to beat Stuttgart and hoist the DFB-Pokal.
Best XI: Manuel Neuer; Philipp Lahm, Jerome Boateng, Dante, David Alaba; Bastian Schweinsteiger, Javi Martinez; Franck Ribery, Thomas Muller, Arjen Robben; Mario Mandzukic