Reigning Bundesliga champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen won the 81st edition of the DFB-Pokal, ending the season with the first domestic double in club history. Head coach Xabi Alonso’s team came out on top of a hard-fought clash with second-division side 1. FC Kaiserslautern, winning 1-0 thanks to a spectacular long-range strike from Granit Xhaka (16’). The match took place at the Olympiastadion in Berlin in front of a sell-out crowd of 74, 322.
Kaiserslautern started brightly against a Leverkusen side looking to cap off an unbeaten domestic campaign with their second trophy of the season. The Red Devils pressed hard, got stuck in and looked to switch over quickly and attack, going close early on through a powerful long-range effort from Daniel Hanslik. Goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky was able to push his shot away from the target (4’).
Xhaka scores a stunner
Leverkusen sought to take control of the game and were rewarded with the lead in the 16th minute. Xhaka curled a sensational shot into the top left corner from nearly 20 meters out, leaving Julian Krahl with no chance. The Werkself continued to attack in the minutes that followed, the Alex Grimaldo first trying his luck with a chipped shot (26’) before following it up with a shot from distance shortly after (27’).
Kaiserslautern were on the back foot, forced to defend deep against a Leverkusen side that were happy to let the ball do the work for them. Their backline remained solid, however, keeping their opponents from breaking through. Bayer’s Odilon Kossonou was then shown a second yellow in the 44th minute, bringing the favourites down to just 10 men for the remainder of the match. The Red Devils sought to benefit from this advantage, as Tobias Raschl only narrowly missed with a shot across the face of goal, proving that it was still very much anyone’s game (45’+2).
Bayer hold on even after going a man down
Alonso made two changes at the break, bringing on Josip Stanišić and Amine Adli for Patrik Schick and Jonas Hofmann. Kaiserslautern brought on forward Ragnar Ache for Hanslik. The two substitutes nearly had an instant impact, with both being involved in shots shortly after coming on. The first shot after the restart came from the Werkself, but Adli’s effort was straight at the goalkeeper (55’). Stanišić was able to get on the end of the resulting corner, but his header went just wide of goal (56’).
At the other end, substitute Ache sent a low shot towards goal that forced Hradecky to get down in order to ensure that it wouldn’t sneak in at the far post (59’). Ache then went close again with another threatening shot in the 63rd minute. Leverkusen remained patient in the face of this wave of attacks from their opponents, looking for opportunities to catch them on the break. Jeremie Frimpong was nearly able to add a second after break through on goal, but failed to beat Krahl one on one (74’).
The final minutes of the match remained tense, as Leverkusen fought to keep Kaiserslautern from finding their way back into the game with an equaliser. Florian Wirtz had an effort saved by Krahl in the 90th minute, before the referee blew to signal the end of the match.
With the win, Leverkusen ended a memorable campaign that saw them go unbeaten in 40 games domestically with the first double in club history. It was also their second time lifting the DFB-Pokal, having previously won it in 1993.
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Reigning Bundesliga champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen won the 81st edition of the DFB-Pokal, ending the season with the first domestic double in club history. Head coach Xabi Alonso’s team came out on top of a hard-fought clash with second-division side 1. FC Kaiserslautern, winning 1-0 thanks to a spectacular long-range strike from Granit Xhaka (16’). The match took place at the Olympiastadion in Berlin in front of a sell-out crowd of 74, 322.
Kaiserslautern started brightly against a Leverkusen side looking to cap off an unbeaten domestic campaign with their second trophy of the season. The Red Devils pressed hard, got stuck in and looked to switch over quickly and attack, going close early on through a powerful long-range effort from Daniel Hanslik. Goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky was able to push his shot away from the target (4’).
Xhaka scores a stunner
Leverkusen sought to take control of the game and were rewarded with the lead in the 16th minute. Xhaka curled a sensational shot into the top left corner from nearly 20 meters out, leaving Julian Krahl with no chance. The Werkself continued to attack in the minutes that followed, the Alex Grimaldo first trying his luck with a chipped shot (26’) before following it up with a shot from distance shortly after (27’).
Kaiserslautern were on the back foot, forced to defend deep against a Leverkusen side that were happy to let the ball do the work for them. Their backline remained solid, however, keeping their opponents from breaking through. Bayer’s Odilon Kossonou was then shown a second yellow in the 44th minute, bringing the favourites down to just 10 men for the remainder of the match. The Red Devils sought to benefit from this advantage, as Tobias Raschl only narrowly missed with a shot across the face of goal, proving that it was still very much anyone’s game (45’+2).
Bayer hold on even after going a man down
Alonso made two changes at the break, bringing on Josip Stanišić and Amine Adli for Patrik Schick and Jonas Hofmann. Kaiserslautern brought on forward Ragnar Ache for Hanslik. The two substitutes nearly had an instant impact, with both being involved in shots shortly after coming on. The first shot after the restart came from the Werkself, but Adli’s effort was straight at the goalkeeper (55’). Stanišić was able to get on the end of the resulting corner, but his header went just wide of goal (56’).
At the other end, substitute Ache sent a low shot towards goal that forced Hradecky to get down in order to ensure that it wouldn’t sneak in at the far post (59’). Ache then went close again with another threatening shot in the 63rd minute. Leverkusen remained patient in the face of this wave of attacks from their opponents, looking for opportunities to catch them on the break. Jeremie Frimpong was nearly able to add a second after break through on goal, but failed to beat Krahl one on one (74’).
The final minutes of the match remained tense, as Leverkusen fought to keep Kaiserslautern from finding their way back into the game with an equaliser. Florian Wirtz had an effort saved by Krahl in the 90th minute, before the referee blew to signal the end of the match.
With the win, Leverkusen ended a memorable campaign that saw them go unbeaten in 40 games domestically with the first double in club history. It was also their second time lifting the DFB-Pokal, having previously won it in 1993.
