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Schweinsteiger says goodbye to Bayern with testimonial goal

August 28, 2018

In his heyday, he used to write his own scripts but Bastian Schweinsteiger may have had a little help with this one. The Bayern Munich and Germany great scored the final goal on his return to Munich.

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Fußball Abschiedsspiel Bastian Schweinsteiger
Image: Getty Images,/Bongarts/A. Pretty

Tuesday's match between Schweinsteiger's current club Chicago Fire and the German side, with whom he spent 13 trophy-laden seasons, finished 4-0 to the hosts.

Serge Gnabry gave a strong Bayern side the lead before Sandro Wagner and Schweinsteiger's long-term teammate Arjen Robben added further strikes. After playing the first half for Fire, Schweinsteiger sealed the win with a goal seven minutes from time for their opponents.

"I am one of you, and I always will be one of you," said the Bavarian native and World Cup winner in a tearful speech after the match. "My past belongs only to Bayern and nobody else."

Bastian Schweinsteiger poses with all the trophies he won at Bayern Munich
Bastian Schweinsteiger poses with all the trophies he won at Bayern MunichImage: Getty Images/A. Pretty

About 75,000 fans packed in to the Allianz Arena to wave goodbye to their former star, many of them wearing jerseys with Schweinsteiger's number, 31, emblazoned on the back.

He met with former bosses Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeness before the game as well as coach Jupp Heynckes, who famously led Schweinsteiger and co. to a treble in 2013.

The crowd had called for a goal from the man they'd come to see and eventually he obliged, slamming home a David Alaba cross. Not that it really mattered, this was all about the memories.

mp (SID, DPA)