BERLIN (AP) — Harry Kane cut through the smoke of the German Cup final as Bayern Munich scored a hat-trick and beat defending champion Stuttgart 3-0 to clinch a domestic double on Saturday.
Kane’s second-half goal set off fireworks among Bayern fans who, along with rivals Stuttgart, had taken part in a protest against the German Football Federation (DFB) over plans to beef up security.
The protests began after the half-time break, with Bayern fans holding up a giant DFB logo with a line across the top of a banner abusing the club, while Stuttgart fans held up banners calling for “freedom on the terraces”. Both players then filled the edges of the stadium with giant fireworks, and the field was covered in smoke.
Kane broke the deadlock soon after with a diving header on Michael Oliseh’s cross in the 55th minute.
This led to further fireworks being fired from Bayern fans, worsening the already poor visibility and leading to the stoppage of play.
Kane hit the crossbar with a powerful shot and scored the winning goal in the 80th minute, converting Luis Diaz’s shot into the bottom corner of the goal.
Angelo Stiller conceded a penalty for a handball, and Kane completed his hat-trick from the spot in stoppage time.
“He’s impressive,” Bayern manager Vincent Kompany said of Kane. “It’s not just his outstanding quality, but also his personality for the group. I don’t know how he can score so many goals in his career and still be just one of the players.”
Kane has scored 61 goals for Bayern this season, including in cup competitions, the league, the Super Cup and the Champions League.
they helped Bayern wins Bundesliga title 4 rounds left.
Bayern will be advancing to the German Cup final for the first time since 2000, when they defeated Bayer Leverkusen 4-2 to win the domestic double.
Stuttgart defeated third division champions Arminia Bielefeld 4-2 in last year’s final.
bavarian celebration
Bayern’s players ran straight to the fans at the east end of the Olympiastadion to celebrate the end of a six-year cup drought.
Stuttgart took advantage of a tense first half with Maximilian Mittelstedt forcing a great save from substitute Jonas Ulbig. Manuel Neuer injured Other than that, it was a full-strength Bayern team.
But while Stuttgart were playing to the limit, Bayern were not. After Kane scored the first goal, there could only be one winner.
“The second half was much better. We were more effective,” Joshua Kimmich told broadcaster ARD before his team hoisted the trophy amid a flurry of golden confetti.
Mourinho in Berlin
No one was surprised when German national team coach Julian Nagelsmann played the match two days later. World Cup squad announced Eleven players from Bayern and Stuttgart were included, but few expected Portugal coach Jose Mourinho to attend.
Mourinho is currently the manager of Benfica. Expected to return to Real Madrid The following season there was widespread speculation that he was playing in the final to watch Bayern star Michael Olise.
“He may have five eyes on Olise, but he can’t catch him,” Bayern powerbroker Uli Hoeness told broadcaster Sky.
Pre-match protest
Before the match, outside the stadium, Thomas Melchior continued his one-man campaign to stop betting companies from getting involved in the sport. He was looking to confront Bayern fans, wearing a bright Stuttgart jersey and carrying a 30kg weight on his shoulders, holding a placard that read “Sport, not sports betting.”
In contrast to the beginning, told the Associated Press Melchior received more praise than anger as fans became aware of his campaign in October. But he wasn’t done yet.
“Because betting providers are still advertising everywhere during football matches – all the time, everywhere – and people are still getting addicted to it every day because of that advertising,” Melchior said. “That’s exactly what it meant to me at the time, and that’s why I’m still doing this work.”
Melchior was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for fraud and theft in 2019 after losing more than 800,000 euros (currently $930,000) gambling.
Now trying to make amends, he lamented the support of gambling operators. According to FIFA etc. And DFB.
“We are going in completely the wrong direction. We should be advertising less, not more,” Melchior said. “People just have to know: first, sports betting is dangerous, and second, it’s also destructive to sports.”
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