Bayern Munich's Bundesliga dominance under threat as season heads for thrilling finale

Manuel Neuer is off his crutches, walking gingerly. There is no date for when Bayern Munich will have their captain back in action, but the hope is that his condition, after breaking a leg while skiing in December, might improve in parallel with better health on the field at his club.

Neuer is one of the few senior Bayern players who can still remember what it is like to finish a season without lifting the Bundesliga shield. They were second in his first year at the club, 2011/12 but never as low again.

A decade of domestic supremacy would endorse Neuer’s status as club icon. His poor judgment in deciding to spend a day on skis in the post-World Cup break, and his subsequent criticisms of the Bayern hierarchy, have damaged the goalkeeper’s standing.

If this German league title, fiercely contested by up to six teams with 14 games to go, ends up somewhere else, Neuer will be among those at whom fingers are pointed. There will be regrets about the departure of Robert Lewandowski, sold to Barcelona after breaking goalscoring records while Bayern extended their monopoly on the title.

There will be pundits wondering out loud if Bayern, in headhunting Julian Nagelsmann as manager 18 months ago, identified the best young manager in Germany or if there are others just as gifted.

Among them Edin Terzic, 40, whose Borussia Dortmund can go three points ahead of Bayern if they win a 10th successive match on Friday, at home to RB Leipzig. Or perhaps Terzic’s predecessor in the Dortmund job, Marco Rose? Rose, 46, has taken Leipzig to within striking distance of the top two and a point off third-placed Union Berlin in what is a compelling battle.

Drop down the table another notch and provincial Freiburg, five points beneath Bayern and