MUNICH: Bayern Munich fans turned up in their thousands to bid farewell to Jupp Heynckes for a second time today.
The veteran coach is going back into retirement after leading Bayern to another league title.
The side was five points adrift when he returned in October, but rebounded to wrap up the title with five rounds to spare.
It might have been more for Heynckes, but Eintracht Frankfurt stunned the side to win the German Cup final on Saturday and Real Madrid emerged triumphant from the sides' Champions League semifinal.
Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge paid tribute to the 73-year-old Heynckes for bringing "old values" such as "humanity and empathy" back to the side.
"The little downside for us is that we would have liked to give our Jupp, our coach, the nearly perfect finish, but it didn't quite work out," Rummenigge said of the shock defeat to Frankfurt.
Heynckes led Bayern to the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup titles in his previous stint in 2013, before he retired for the first time.
Bayern's players were clearly still disappointed over Saturday's cup defeat as they celebrated the league win on the Munich town hall balcony.
"It feels really bad, how the season ended," said Thomas Mueller, who added that the team would try to "put a brave face on it."