The German Cup final in the historical heart of Berlin

Yesterday the German cup final was being played. In the Berlin Olympiastadion, Borussia Dortmund faced Bayern Munchen.

 

The gap between the two contenders could hardly be bigger: Bayern Munchen has a team full of world stars like Luca Toni, Franck Ribery, Mark van Bommel, Oliver Kahn, and more such players, and is already 99% sure to win the German Bundesliga this season. Borussia on the other hand are in the mid-table and are already happy not to have relegation worries anymore. But for them it was a very bad season, so disappointing that coach Doll risked to be sacked if the final was lost. Bayern score very easily (only Werder Bremen has scored more goals this season in the league) and especially Luca Toni scored with eyes closed: the Italian striker scored 33 goals already in league + cup + UEFA Cup, never before has a player scored so often during his first season at Bayern. Meanwhile Dortmund has a terrible defensive record with already 53 goals against them in the league.

 

It was very clear Bayern were favourites to win this cup, and few people gave Borussia any chances. Last weekend the two teams played each other in the league. Despite giving Franck Ribery and Mark van Bommel a rest, Bayern still won very easily with 5-0 and many people feared that the full-strength Bayern would win the cup final with an embarrassing score.

 

The Olympiastadion is not far from my home district Wedding but with the game sold out and tickets on the black market being sold for 150 euro cheapest price, I decided not to even try to get a ticket. There was an alternative: the game was broadcasted on a giant TV screen attached to the Brandenburger Tor in the historical heart of Berlin. A huge football party in open air with thousands of football fans seeing the game on big screen in the middle of Berlin's most beautiful area? This is definitely almost as good as being in the stadium.

 

The Brandenburger Tor is the huge port at the beginning of the most beautiful avenue in Berlin, Unter den Linden. Further down Unter den Linden you have the most beautiful architecture in the city, such as the Berlinder Dom. But the Brandenburger Tor in itself is already fantastic, a very nice tall port with several very beautiful statutes as decoration. Only 300 meters further you can see the Reichstag, another impressive building which is not only architecturally a beauty but also incredibly big (you have to walk around it to realise how huge it is). In other words, this is the historical heart of Berlin where you find all the most beautiful buildings. An excellent place for a football party.

 

Several thousands of people gathered. The organisation spoke about 100000 fans. Probably taking their wishes for granted, but there were several ten thousands at least. The crowd was huge, and it was clearly a football fanatic crowd. A lot of flags and scarves of both teams, people singing songs linked to their favourite club, hotdog and bretzel salespoints like in a real stadium, ... Although this was the historical center of the city, far away from any stadium, you did have the true football atmosphere. Also, like in the stadiums as well, there is no segregation of fans (should be like this anywhere) and you see a lot of women in the crowd. German football fans are cool people and to be non-violent and anti-hooligan. If only the rest of Europe would be like that ... What surprised me is that there were more Dortmund than Bayern fans in the fan meeting and apparently the stadium itself also contained slightly more Borussia fans than Bayern fans. Strange, because the general expectations were that Dortmund would be hammered by Bayern.

 

The pre-match entertainment was a bit stupid. Two women and two men in maffia and policewoman uniforms singing silly songs. The crowd saw the pun intended, but I thought it was pretty lame. Unless you are easily entertained or unless you have a fetish for women in uniform, there was nothing to it. As much as I despise schlagers, but for a football party where beer is massively consumed, a German schlager would probably have been ideal to get the crowd into a party atmosphere. If it wasn't such a guilty pleasure, one would almost long to hear "Verdammt ich lieb' dich" or "Du bist Alles was ich habe auf den Welt" (please don't think your reporter enjoys this sort of music outside of a pub though! :)). And, with one of the two teams coming from Bavaria, "Eins Zwei Zaufen" would have been just perfect for this occasion.

 

On to the game. Both teams started slowly but Bayern had more possession. The fears that Bayern would make it a walk-over were coming up when after only 11 minutes Philipp Lahm and Franck Ribery started an offensive, Ribery's cross was perfectly kicked in by Luca Toni in front of goal, past the chanceless goalkeeper Marc Ziegler. 1-0 Bayern and once again Luca Toni is the one scoring. The man is a goal machine and this was already his 34th Bayern goal this season... Impressive.

 

What followed was less impressive. The game wasn't really that exciting. Dortmund defended a lot better than most people thought they'd do. A Ribery shot richt at Ziegler and a shot from distance easily saved by Oliver Kahn were the most dangerous things happening. Shortly before halftime Borussia had a huge chance to equalise, a cross was kicked towards goal from very close range but Lucio just narrowly managed to stretch his leg and block the shot. If he came a fraction of a second later, the ball would have probably gone in as I cannot see Kahn save a hard shot from such a close range.

 

1-0 Bayern at halftime. The second half looked similar, with two teams trying but few chances. Ziegler stopped one shot from close distance with the foot, and a few shots on both sides very narrowly missed the target. The game seemed to end in a 1-0 until the injury time brought what nobody expected: a Borussia cross was not cleared too well and Petric' shot was touched by two Bayern players who however could not hit the ball well enough to clear it from the line. Lahm came just to late and could only see the ball bounce after the goal line into the net. 1-1 and an exstatic Borussia Dortmund got extra times!

 

Nobody gave BVB any chance to win this game, so extra times were already a huge surprise. In those extra times, we saw a Dortmund side who had a boost in confidence and adrenaline and seeked to realise the impossible: beating Bayern. Oliver Kahn had to make a great save to dive a superb shot out of the goal into corner kick. But then, against the honesty of the game, Bayern stroke again: a cross from Ribery and once again Luca Toni stood at the right place to push the ball into the net with the tip of his shoe, past goalkeeper Ziegler who came close to saving the ball but came just a fraction of a second to late. 1-2 for Bayern, and once again Luca Toni proved how important he is. In Getafe his two goals helped Bayern proceed to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, in the league his 20 goals helped Bayern to get the nr 1 position they currently have, and as well in the German cup his two goals in the final proved to be decisive. In total this was his 35th competitive goal for Bayern. Impressive.

 

For Dortmund this was an emotional kick in the eye, and they never recovered from that. When Kuba got a red card it was over and out for Dortmund. Bayern have their cup and their first trophy of the season (or should we say second, as the league is 99% sure to be won by Bayern). Bayern did not dominate the game and was even dominated during extra time, but the difference between these teams was one man: Luca Toni, the killer who scores with his eyes closed. Maybe we should not say Bayern has won the cup today, it was Toni who has done so. Bayern on its way to the triple, but the question we should ask: if Bayern did not have the goal instinct of Luca Toni, would they be anywhere near the successes they currently have?

 

For one man the cup was an extra special occassion: 38 years old goalkeeper Oliver Kahn played his last cup final (he retires at the end of the season) but in that last cup final he set a new record: he is the first ever player to win 6 German cups in his career.

 

With the Bundesliga already won (it would take more than 1 miracle if Bayern would still lose that) and with the German cup in the hands of the Munich team, the club can now focus on also winning the UEFA Cup. If they do that, Bayern would win 3 major trophies in 1 season time. One thing is sure: after 1 very bad season last year, Bayern is the nr 1 team in Germany again, not a single doubt about that.

 

Borussia Dortmund have one consolidation: because Bayern is sure of Champions League entry already, Borussia goes into the UEFA Cup next season as losing finalist. So we will also see die Borussen in Europe next season, but they'd better buy some extra players if they want to have any chance to get far in Europe ...