FC Bayern crowns its season with the double. Harry Kane scores the champions a hat trick to win the cup.
At 10:20 p.m. Manuel Neuer lifted the DFB Cup into the Berlin night sky, then the FC Bayern stars around hat-trick hero Harry Kane started their wild double party in the golden confetti shower.
“This is such a special game, such a special feeling,” Kane enthused on “Sky” after the long-awaited triumph in the Olympic Stadium and added: “It was our season.”
FC Bayern sets a club record
With the 21st cup victory in the club’s history, Bayern crowned a remarkable season and won the championship and cup double for the first time in six years with a 3-0 (0-0) win against VfB Stuttgart, who had been equal for a long time.
Kane, who became a celebrated hero with his goals of the season 59 to 61 in the second half (55th/80th/90th+2, hand penalty), immediately grabbed the match point, the injured Manuel Neuer fell into the arms of his star striker.
“We really wanted to win this thing ourselves. For ourselves, our families and the club,” said substitute captain Joshua Kimmich on “Sky”. With their 46th win of the season, Bayern also equaled their club record from the historic 2012/13 triple season. Neuer, who is now waiting for a comeback to the national team after being sidelined due to renewed problems with his calf, became the record winner alongside Bastian Schweinsteiger with his seventh cup victory.
VfB Stuttgart misses title defense
Meanwhile, VfB missed out on successfully defending their title a year after their triumph against Arminia Bielefeld; qualifying for the Champions League again remains a consolation prize. “We can leave the pitch with our heads held high. In the first half we were evenly matched. In the end it was Harry Kane three times, so that’s the usual process,” said VfB sports director Fabian Wohlgemuth on the Sky microphone.
The pressure was clearly on Munich’s side in advance. After a strong season and the semi-final exit in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain, a win in Berlin was almost mandatory – even though Bayern emphasized almost unanimously that they did not want to base the evaluation of the playing time on just this one game. However, a defeat would leave a “bitter aftertaste,” admitted Kane.
But Bayern didn’t even want to think that far. Even the critical statements from patron Uli Hoeneß regarding a possible contract extension of sports director Max Eberl could not dampen the anticipation of the first cup final in six years among the club and fans. The supporters celebrated the “record cup winner” with a big choreo before kick-off; thousands had already gotten in the mood for the final on a fan march through Berlin’s Westend. “We want to do what we have shown all season,” emphasized Kompany.
VfB Stuttgart has annoyed FC Bayern for a long time
However, that hardly worked in the early stages. Rather, it was VfB who took control of the game with aggressive pressing and a lot of commitment in front of a concentrated group of celebrities around national coach Julian Nagelsmann and star coach José Mourinho – and also became dangerous. A first shot from Maximilian Mittelstädt (9th) landed on the side netting, but new replacement Jonas Urbig had to stretch for the second shot from distance (17th). From Bavaria? There was hardly anything offensive at first.
It was only after half an hour that Luis Díaz recorded the first real finish for the champions, but he didn’t present VfB goalkeeper Alexander Nübel with a task in what was probably his last game for Stuttgart. Meanwhile, Kompany tried to whip his players forward on the sidelines. And Bayern actually found their way into the game a little better shortly before half-time: Nübel had to intervene for the first time when Josip Stanisic’s long-range shot (37′).
Even after the break, the game initially remained competitive – until Bayern struck ice-cold in the thick pyron fog. Kane, who had barely appeared until then, capitalized on a cross from Michael Olise with a header from close range. Konrad Laimer (61st) missed miserably shortly afterwards from a similar position. Kane followed up – and stayed cool from the spot in stoppage time.
