These are the moments that make us love football. How much romance there is in cup games, and tonight (Wednesday) the German Cup provided a new classic. The great Bayern Munich lost to Holstein Kiel from the second league in the last 32 stage and was eliminated before the quarterfinals.
The European champions must have been happy with the comfortable draw, as they knew that even in the next round an invited rival in the form of Darmstadt was waiting for them – but this was not how Kill from third place in the second Bundesliga thought.
Bayern have won the German Cup twice in a row, and today parted ways with the title. And it happened in the most dramatic way possible. It went up 0-1 from a goal by Serge Gnabry in the 14th minute, but suffered a draw in the 37th minute when Finn Bartles subdued Manuel Neuer. The Bavarians took the lead again, in the 48th minute, when Leroy Sana with a wonderful free kick found the net and made it 1: 2.
From that moment on, Bayern stopped playing. This is despite the fact that coach Enzy Flick came on in a strong lineup, with the exception of Robert Lewandowski who remained on the bench and came on the field in the 74th minute. Kill fought, preventing the Empire from getting into situations, tried her best, but nonetheless Bayern saw themselves on the road to victory despite a weak performance. The referee added three minutes of extra time, which were slightly extended due to injury, and in the 90 + 5 minute, in the last attack of the game, the Oka and Ohel provided a wonderful shot into Neuer’s net and set up an extra time. Is there anything more dramatic than that? nothing.
In overtime itself, Hanzi Flick’s players tried and tried, but did not find the net, and the game was dragged into a penalty shootout. Both teams kicked their first five kicks to the net and the result was 5: 5. Then Mark Roca went to the penalty spot, and Bayern’s Spanish midfielder kicked a ball that was deflected by goalkeeper Yannis Gallius. The big hero was Finn Bartles, who kicked the last penalty with the most impressive composure, sent a flat ball to the right corner and caused a huge sensation – 5: 6 per kilogram on penalties over Bayern. Amazing.
