Robert Lewandowski has equalled a 49-year-old Bundesliga scoring record by netting his 40th goal of the season as champions Bayern Munich drew 2-2 in Freiburg.
The 32-year-old Pole converted a 26th-minute penalty on Saturday to draw level with another Bayern icon Gerd Muller, who famously scored his 40 goals in 1971-72.
The Poland star revealed a T-shirt with a picture of Muller and the words "4ever Gerd" before receiving a guard of honour from teammates and staff to mark the historic occasion.
Leroy Sane scored the other goal for Bayern who had clinched a record-extending ninth straight title a week ago, while Manuel Gulde and Christian Guenter scored for mid-table Freiburg on the penultimate matchday.
Muller will be unaware of what happened because he is suffering from dementia and in a nursing home.
His wife, Uschi Muller, said this week that he wouldn't begrudge Lewandowski if he broke the record but also made a small request that would have kept him in the books.
"Dear Robert Lewandowski, 40 goals are enough," she said.
Actually, Lewansdowski did shockingly miss a sitter with 12 minutes left which would have given him sole possession of the record but he has one more match to break it, in next week's season finale against Augsburg.
Former Munich and Germany captain Lothar Matthaus said on Sky: "Congratulations to Lewandowski. But he also has a great team with him."
Elsewhere, Muller's former West Germany teammate Bernd Holzenbein lost Eintracht Frankfurt's scoring record from 1976-77 when Andre Silva got a brace for a tally of 27.
But the team's Champions League ambitions took another big hit in a 4-3 defeat at relegated Schalke who scored three goals in nine minutes to reverse a 2-1 deficit.
Bayer Leverkusen clinched a Europa League berth in sixth despite being held 1-1 by Union Berlin, who are now seventh and in the Conference League spot, because Borussia Monchengladbach lost 2-1 against VfB Stuttgart.
In the lowlands, Hertha Berlin are safe after a 0-0 draw with second-last Cologne, and so are Augsburg after a 2-0 win over Werder Bremen who slipped into the relegation play-off spot in third-last, one point behind Arminia Bielefeld who drew 1-1 with Hoffenheim.
Australian Associated Press
