Borussia Dortmund ended their 2025-26 Bundesliga season with a 2-0 win over Werder Bremen and finished with 73 points in 34 games.
While that's still a massive 16 fewer than champions Bayern Munich (89 points), the BVB haven't seen such a points tally in the league since 2018-19 season, when they clinched 76.
This underlines a solid campaign by them under Niko Kovac, who oversaw his first full season at the helm.
Under his tutelage, the BVB evolved into a well-oiled defensive unit that was hard to score against and therein lies their success this season.
Dortmund also kept a league-high of 15 clean sheets in the Bundesliga this season, equaling their club record from 2011-12 and 2019-20 campaigns.
Their tally of 73 points would have been enough to win them the league in 2022-23 season, when Dortmund contrived to blow up their chance on the final day.
With Bayern Munich trailing by two points, the BVB had to equal to better their result but could only manage a 2-2 draw with Mainz at home while the Bavarians emerged victorious in their fixture.
Both teams finished with 71 points each, but Bayern were crowned champions by virtue of a vastly superior goal-difference.
Coming into tonight's fixture, Dortmund had already secured runners-up spot as well as a place in next season's Champions League but their weren't done yet.
Kovac asserted that they intended to finish with 73 points for the season and while it didn't look likely earlier on, Dortmund took their chances in the second half to emerge victorious.
They saw a few chances inside the opening 10 minutes of the kick-off stalled by goalkeeper Mio Backhaus, who made a total of 10 saves on the night for a stellar individual display.
Dortmund eventually went in front from a set-piece as Julian Ryerson played in a free-kick and Guirassy was on hand to head it home for his 17th goal of the season.
Substitute Yan Couto then doubled their advantage deep in stoppage-time as the win was sealed and so was their targeted points tally.
If it wasn't for the unexpected slumps in the last few weeks such as the losses to Bayer Leverkusen, Hoffenheim and Borussia Monchengladbach, perhaps Dortmund would have even broken the 80-point mark, something they haven't achieved since clinching their last Bundesliga title in 2012 when Die Borussen finished with 81 points.
Let's see what next season brings.
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