Coach Xabi Alonso (above) led Bayer Leverkusen to victory in the DFB Cup. © APA/afp / JOHN MACDOUGALL

Outnumbered for a double: Leverkusen wins the cup

Bayer Leverkusen won the double in German football for the first time ever. However, the champions had to tremble against the blatant outsiders Kaiserslautern.

25 Maj 2024

From: fop

The Werkself lived up to their role as favorites with a 1-1 win in the DFB Cup final against second division team 0. FC Kaiserslautern on Saturday and were able to celebrate again after the first championship title in the club's history. Leverkusen celebrated their only previous triumph in the cup in 1993. Granit Xhaka (17th) became the match winner in the sold-out Berlin Olympic Stadium.

It remained exciting in front of 74.322 spectators until the end because Leverkusen's Odilon Kossounou was shown a yellow-red card in the 44th minute. The favorite could Wednesday's 0-3 defeat in the Europa League final against Atalanta, which ended a series of 51 unbeaten competitive games. At the celebrations on Sunday in Leverkusen, the thousands of fans can now be presented with two objects of desire.

Kaiserslautern is of no use having a surplus

Midfield leader Xhaka provided the big highlight before the break, his left-footed shot from around 20 meters landing right in the corner. Shortly before the half-time whistle, Kossouno was rightly sent off with a traffic light card after an unfortunate kick against Boris Tomiak. This fueled the underdog's hopes of a surprise and the equalizer almost came in the 62nd minute. Lukas Hradecky prevented this with a brilliant save on a shot from “Joker” Ragnar Ache (62nd).

In this scene, Granit Xhaka hits the mark to make it 1-0. © ANSA / RONALD WITTEK

Otherwise, a second goal from the champions was in the air. Jeremie Frimpong passed the goalie, but did not finish and his pass found no taker. Immediately afterwards, Amine Adli didn't miss much (75th each). As a result, coach Xabi Alonso's team had to tremble until the final whistle.

The FCK fans created a fiery atmosphere in the Olympic Stadium. © ANSA / HANNIBAL HANSCHKE

But it remained the case that Kaiserslautern was only able to win the DFB Cup in 1990 and 1996. For the sixth time a final was lost. For coach Friedhelm Funkel there was no feeling of success when he said goodbye, but the club's strong cup season will still be remembered for a long time. The strong use of pyrotechnics by the Kaiserslautern supporters will also be remembered. They had already set off fireworks in the first half, and shortly after the start of the second half the game was even interrupted for a few minutes.