The weekend ahead of the Champions League final with Chelsea, Bayern Munich found themselves overwhelmed in the German Cup final by Borussia Dortmund.
Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick for the Bundesliga champions but the first blow was struck by Shinji Kagawa, watched from the stands by the Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and his assistant Mike Phelan. The 23-year-old Japanese is not renewing his contract with Dortmund and has been linked with a move to Old Trafford.
Dortmund have the better of Bayern regularly in the German league these days, though not usually by this margin. Lessons for Chelsea? Bayern are vulnerable to the rapid counter-attack. The trouble is, it is hard to imagine Chelsea coming anywhere close to the consistent dynamism shown by Dortmund last night in Berlin.
They established their early lead thanks partly to a loss of concentration from Luiz Gustavo, the Bayern midfield player, careless in possession faced with the alert and hungry men in yellow. Lukasz Piszczek took advantage, playing Jakub Blaszczykowski into space in the inside-right channel, and he drew Manuel Neuer before passing gently to Kagawa, for whom the target yawned wide open.
Gustavo will not be among those who face Chelsea because he is suspended, along with David Alaba and Holger Badstuber, both of whom were also in the Bayern starting XI. Coach Jupp Heynckes faces a series of dilemmas, as does Roberto Di Matteo, over how to compensate for his enforced absentees. If he picks the Ukrainian Anatoliy Tymoschuk in midfield, he loses mobility; if he asks Toni Kroos to adopt a more withdrawn role, allowing Thomas Muller to start playing off striker Mario Gomez, he takes more risk.
Muller began on the bench last night, a role he is becoming accustomed to, but he was on after half-time because Bayern’s condition by then had turned grave. They did reply to Kagawa’s third- minute ambush with an equaliser, Gomez taking on goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller, having been put through by an excellent pass from Bastian Schweinsteiger, and winning a penalty.
Weidenfeller took a deserved yellow card for his offence and then faced Arjen Robben from 12 yards. Robben had fluffed a spot-kick against Dortmund in the Bundesliga meeting last month but this time he converted. Parity lasted around a quarter of an hour, in which Dortmund suffered the setback of a Weidenfeller injury, meaning the keeper gave way to a deputy, Mitchell Langerak, who arrived sufficiently sharp to snuff out a half-chance for Gomez.
But Dortmund were soon ahead again, with a penalty of their own after Jerome Boateng brought down Blaszczykowski. Neuer got a hand to Mats Hummels’ spot-kick but not enough to keep it out. Poor Boateng had little respite, beaten by Kagawa to a long ball played from deep minutes later. The Japanese coolly played in Lewandowski, who planted Dortmund’s third goal between the legs of Neuer.
The fourth arrived just before the hour. Lewandowski was again the man to pass sentence. Another brisk counter-attack created the circumstances. Dortmund powered forward to outnumber Bayern defenders so that by the time Kevin Grosskreutz laid the ball off to Lewandowski, he had plenty of time to calculate the angle of his shot across Neuer.
Bayern would not capitulate, although Heynckes was already looking a week ahead, bringing on Diego Contento to give him a run ahead of his likely start against Chelsea. Gomez hit the post with a header and Franck Ribery showed skill and gumption to pull a goal back with a fine low drive from the edge of the penalty area. But Bayern remained vulnerable, as Lewandowski’s late headed third, after Neuer had let the ball slip, showed.
Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller (Langerak 34min), Piszczek, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer, Gundogan, Kehl, Blaszczykowski (Perisic 84min), Kagawa (S Bender 81min), Grosskreutz , Lewandowski
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Lahm, Boateng, Badstuber, Alaba (Contento 69min), Schweinsteiger, Gustavo (Muller h-t), Robben, Kroos, Ribery, Gomez
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