Kane and Kompany: How Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga title

BERLIN (AP) — Bayern Munich wrapped up the Bundesliga title without playing on Sunday, successfully bouncing back from its first trophyless season since 2012.

Bayer Leverkusen's 2-2 draw in Freiburg ended the defending champion's mathematical chance of still catching Bayern, which has an unassailable eight-point lead with two rounds remaining.

It’s Bayern’s record-extending 34th German title. Apart from the first in 1932, when the championship was decided by regional champions playing a knockout competition, all the others came after the Bundesliga’s formation in 1963.

Leverkusen’s triumph last year ended Bayern’s record 11-year reign, but the Bavarian powerhouse recovered this season thanks in part to new coach Vincent Kompany, England forward Harry Kane, and Leverkusen's inability to replicate its best ever season.

Here’s a closer look at the reasons for Bayern’s revival:

This was the season when Bayern finally left the Robert Lewandowski era behind. Nearly three years after the Polish striker left for Barcelona, Bayern feels like Kane's team. Lewandowski's old partners Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman are no longer racking up the goals and assists as before, and the 35-year-old Thomas Müller is largely a bench player. Instead, Jamal Musiala has developed into a strong attacking threat with 12 Bundesliga goals in a season limited by injury. Michael Olise's first season since signing from Crystal Palace brought 10 goals and 17 assists in the Bundesliga alone, turning him into one of Bayern's key players. And Kane himself has scored some 24 goals.

Though far from first choice, Vincent Kompany has proven to be just what Bayern needed after Thomas Tuchel's turbulent spell as coach. Bayern tried to get Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso, Germany’s Julian Nagelsmann and Austria’s Ralf Rangnick to take over, then even attempted convincing Tuchel to stay after all. Kompany was a surprise pick after Burnley's Premier League relegation — having led the team to promotion the season before — but it has proven an inspired choice. Sporting director Christoph Freund praised the Belgian's calm manner, clear communication and focus for getting through to the players. The club has put a lid on the drama that overshadowed recent seasons. Gone are the days of player discontent, a coach hunting a mole in the locker room, a star player allegedly hitting a teammate and the club barring its own chief executive from title celebrations.

Kompany has worked his players hard and got away with it. Kane remains Bayern's most expensive signing and has a reported salary of around 25 million euros ($28.4 million). That means Bayern has to watch its spending elsewhere and the squad has seemed a little threadbare in places. First-choice central defenders Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae in particular have racked up games. South Korea's coach and the FIFPRO players' union voiced concerns Kim was being overloaded despite repeated Achilles tendon issues, and Upamecano and left back Alphonso Davies both picked up long-term injuries on international duty last month. Despite a thin squad and overloaded players, it was enough to get Bayern over the line for the title.

Going an entire Bundesliga season unbeaten was unprecedented. It was almost inevitable this season would see a decline. Leverkusen lost at home to Leipzig in its second Bundesliga game this season and dropped too many points for a title defense. Xabi Alonso's team has remained difficult to beat this season, with only two losses, but 11 draws were too many. Leverkusen failed to capitalize when Bayern slipped up, losing to Werder Bremen when Bayern was surprised by Bochum in March. Draws with Union Berlin and St. Pauli in April allowed Bayern to get away with a draw at Borussia Dortmund and then grow its lead.

Ellingworth contributed from Düsseldorf.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Bayern's Harry Kane, left, applauds supporters at the end of the German Bundesliga soccer match between RB Leipzig and FC Bayern Munich at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, Germany, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Bayern's Harry Kane, centre, applauds supporters at the end of the German Bundesliga soccer match between RB Leipzig and FC Bayern Munich at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, Germany, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Bayern's Harry Kane, centre, applauds supporters at the end of the German Bundesliga soccer match between RB Leipzig and FC Bayern Munich at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, Germany, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Bayern's Leroy Sane, left, celebrates with Kingsley Coman, after scoring his side's third goal during the German Bundesliga soccer match between RB Leipzig and FC Bayern Munich at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, Germany, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Bayern players thank the fans at the end of the German Bundesliga soccer match between RB Leipzig and FC Bayern Munich at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, Germany, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Bayern's Harry Kane applauds supporters at the end of the German Bundesliga soccer match between RB Leipzig and FC Bayern Munich at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, Germany, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Bayern players thank the fans at the end of the German Bundesliga soccer match between RB Leipzig and FC Bayern Munich at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, Germany, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.

In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.

Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.

If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.

For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.

“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.

Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.

"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.

Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.

Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.

Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.

The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.

“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.

As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.

What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.

The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.

One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.

Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.

“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.

The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.

Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.

“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.

Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.

“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)