Monday, May 23, 2016

In the German DFB-Pokal final, on Saturday, Munich-based football club FC Bayern Munich defeated rivals Borussia Dortmund 4–3 in a penalty shoot-out decider as the match ended 0–0 after 120 minutes at Olympiastadion in Berlin. This marked the third consecutive loss for Dortmund in the German Cup final. This was the eighteenth German Cup win for Bayern and eleventh domestic double.

Bundesliga winners Bayern Munich had 70% ball possession in the game and had seventeen shots while Dortmund hit just nine. With a total of seven yellow cards shown in 120 minutes, 35 fouls were committed.

Dominating Bayern faced a shot from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang which was saved in the 85th minute. Erik Durm’s sliding tackle saved a goal for Robert Lewandowski’s shot in the fourth minute of the extra time.

As normal time ended goal-less, the match progressed to additional time. Roman Bürki delayed the Bavarian victory by disallowing Douglas Costa’s 113th minute shot as well as David Alaba’s shot in the next minute.

In the penalty shootout, Manuel Neuer saved Sven Bender’s spot kick, and Sokratis Papastathopoulos missed while Joshua Kimmich failed to score for Munich.

In the end, Munich won the cup defeating their rivals 4–3 on penalties. This match was the last match for Dortmund for their captain Mats Hummels as he is due to move to Munich next week.

In a pre-match conference, Thomas Tuchel, Borussia Manager, said, “Once you’ve reached five finals over the course of five years, simply reaching the final is no longer enough!” ^{((de)) German Language: Wenn man fünf Mal in fünf Jahren in einem Endspiel steht, ist eine Final-Teilnahme nicht mehr genug!}

Dortmund has won the DFB-Pokal three times. Including the 2012, 2014 and 2015 DFB-Pokal finals they have featured in five finals in the last five seasons in various competitions including the 2013 UEFA Champions League Der Klassiker final. This was Pep Guardiola’s seventh trophy with Bayern Munich in his three years as the club manager. He won the Bundesliga title each season and he is set to join Manchester City next season.