VfB Stuttgart was courageous, committed, and at times clearly superior – but FC Bayern fought back mercilessly and, thanks to a gala performance from Harry Kane, celebrated triumph in the DFB Cup for the 21st time.
The Bundesliga top scorer won a major final for the first time in his career – his three goals in the 55th, 80th and 91st minutes decided the final in Berlin 3-0 (0-0) against the Swabians, who had kept up impressively for a long time. It was a comeback for Munich – their last title in the DFB Cup dates back to 2020.
High pressing from VfB
The Stuttgart team got into the game really well, gave Bayern no time to build up their game with high and poisonous pressing and consistently worked forward themselves. In the 2nd minute, Deniz Undav had the first shot, but his header went straight into the arms of Jonas Urbig. who represented Manuel Neuer, who was suffering from calf problems.
And Urbig remained at the center of the action. With a sloppy pass in the build-up, he enabled Angelo Stiller to score from 20 meters, but he missed it (4th). Five minutes later, Maximilian Mittelstädt was free on the left side but only hit the side netting. The fourth dangerous shot once again belonged to Mittelstädt, who national coach Julian Nagelsmann had not deemed fit for the World Cup – but the Bayern keeper deflected the low shot from the edge of the penalty area around the post.
Bayern passive, slow and harmless
And FC Bayern? Almost didn’t take place at all, acted passively, withdrew surprisingly far and showed no creativity at all, especially in midfield. The first half hour belonged entirely to VfB. A header from Harry Kane (22nd) over Alexander Nübel, who seemed a bit disoriented in this scene, but also over the goal, was the best chance. Otherwise, it took until the 30th minute before Luis Diaz caused a little excitement again with a low shot into the arms of Nübel.
Nübel only had to show his first really good save in the 37th minute. Josip Stanisic was not attacked in the central midfield and shot at the astonishing speed of 156 kilometers per hour from a good 20 meters – but the keeper was in the threatened left corner in time in his farewell game for VfB.
Löw impressed by Stuttgart
World champion coach Joachim Löw analyzed the following during the break in the Sportschau interview: “Sebastian Honess has a great tactical attitude for VfB, plays man-marking at times, doesn’t give Bayern any space. If Stuttgart can hold on like that and make it 1-0 at some point, they have every chance.”
In fact, the second round started exactly as the first had ended. After 55 minutes, VfB had more than twice as many shots on goal and had won 65 percent of duels in the duel statistics. But it was not VfB that took the lead, but rather Bayern.
Kane is completely free in the six-yard box – and scores
After a foul on Michael Olise, the Munich team quickly took a free kick, Olise went through on the right and crossed unchallenged into the center. Stuttgart actually had enough personnel in their own penalty area, but the allocation was a catastrophe: Jeff Chabot focused on the near post, so Chema Andrés was responsible for Kane in the center. But the Stuttgart player simply stood still – the top scorer in the Bundesliga only needed to take one step forward, was completely free and just needed to doze off.
Sven Jablonski then interrupted the game for several minutes due to lack of visibility. Both fan camps had apparently turned the cup final into a competition to see who could burn off more pyros at the same time – both corners were visually on fire, the stadium was drowning in a thick cloud of fog.
Laimer forgives them Preliminary decision
After this “time out” the momentum changed. Stuttgart continued to try, but there was practically no longer any danger of scoring. Instead, FCB had a great chance to make a preliminary decision: Nübel reacted brilliantly to a hard finish from Luis Diaz, but Konrad Laimer then only had to push the rebound into the empty goal – but he missed completely.
But this scene had no consequences – thanks to Kane. Ten minutes before the end he hit a long-range shot against the crossbar, but the rebound landed back at Munich. They combined quickly and too precisely for the VfB defense: Kane played a one-two with Luis Diaz, brilliantly passed the ball past Chema Andrés, who was once again overwhelmed, and slotted it ice-cold into the right corner.
Stiller’s handball leads to Kane’s hat trick
In stoppage time, Stiller made a handball during a completely unsuccessful defensive attempt – of course, Kane didn’t miss the penalty. He coldly converted it into the right corner – and crowned an incredible season with his 61st competitive goal.
