Bayern Munich all but mathematically wrapped up the Bundesliga title on Saturday night thanks to a 1-0 win over Hertha Berlin.
Bastian Schweinsteiger scored the only goal of the game 10 minutes from time as Bayern pulled 15 points clear of Wolfsburg, who can reduce the arrears to 12 points again when they face Borussia Monchengladbach on Sunday.
But with only four games of the season to come, and with Bayern 32 goals better off than the Wolves, the title - their 25th - is as effectively theirs.
Pep Guardiola made wholesale changes to his side with Gianluca Gaudino and Mitchell Weiser both in the starting XI and Thiago and Juan Bernat handed rests.
It was clear that wrapping up the title immediately was not the Catalan coach's priority, with a DFB-Pokal semi-final tie with Borussia Dortmund looming on the horizon and a Champions League semi-final with Barcelona also in the back of his mind.
The changes inevitably weakened the record champions, but not to the point of making them inferior - they still had the likes of World Cup winners Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Muller and Mario Gotze on the field.
It did nevertheless allow Hertha to face up to them without any fear, and gave them a few chances to cause an upset, with the first shot of the game coming from Valentin Stocker.
Bayern were still their dominant selves in terms of possession, but something was eerily lacking from their game with no incision, nor intent to do harm up front.
Hertha for their part defended in numbers, leaving Salomon Kalou alone up front, feeding on scraps which were hard to come by, although Nico Schulz did find himself with only Manuel Neuer to beat early in the second half, but the Germany number one made a fine one-armed save.
Eighteen-year-old Sinan Kurt was sent on by Guardiola for his first-team debut, emphasising further how little victory in this match meant to the Bayern coach with much bigger appointments on the horizon.
They still got their now customary three points, though, with Schweinsteiger curling his shot into the top right-hand corner with 10 minutes of the game remaining, just a minute after he had headed against the post.
Like two years ago, when his goal at Frankfurt earned Bayern the title, the Germany captain scored what could prove to be the championship-winning goal once again.
ends