News (engl.)

FC Bayern München became the final team to book their place in the DFB-Pokal semi-finals after beating Bundesliga rivals RB Leipzig 2-0 in Wednesday night’s quarter-final. A quickfire double from Harry Kane (64’, pen.) and Luis Díaz (67’) secured the win for the record cup champions.

Leipzig thought they had taken an early lead when Christoph Baumgartner found the net in the fourth minute, but the flag went up for a marginal offside. Bayern soon created their first big chance at the other end, but Kane’s shot was saved by Maarten Vandevoordt and Castello Lukeba cleared the rebound off the line (11’).

The home side continued to press: Kane’s header following a corner from Joshua Kimmich was unintentionally blocked by team-mate Aleksandar Pavlović (18’) before the striker volleyed wide a few minutes later (21’). Both teams found themselves committing plenty of players forward, with the game developing into an open, end-to-end affair.

Crossbar at one end, penalty at the other

RB had their next opportunity through a long-range effort from David Raum, which Manuel Neuer kept out with a sharp reflex save (36’). Pavlović tried his luck from distance in first-half stoppage time (45+5’), but Vandevoordt was equal to it. From the resulting corner, Kane went close again with a header, only to be denied once more by the Leipzig keeper (45+6’).

The second half remained tightly contested. Bayern had the first chance, with Vandevoordt showing his class again to stop Serge Gnabry’s first-time effort (58’). Then came a dramatic turning point: Rômulo headed against the underside of the bar for Leipzig (62’), and Bayern immediately launched a counter-attack. As Josip Stanišić broke through, he was brought down by Vandevoordt. The referee pointed to the spot, as Kane stepped up and converted with confidence.

Just moments later, Michael Olise went inches wide of making it 2-0 (65’), but Luis Díaz made no mistake soon after, latching onto a through ball and calmly finishing one-on-one with Vandevoordt (67’). Leipzig were unable to mount a response, and Bayern saw out the match in composed fashion.