Pep Guardiola went out in style as Bayern Munich sealed the double in his final game before joining Manchester City. The Bavarians beat rivals Borussia Dortmund 4-3 on penalties, after an arduous and goalless 120 minutes. The match itself may not have lived up to its billing in terms of quality. However, the high tempo and incredibly competitive nature of the game was a testament to both side’s strength, as well as highlighting how the gap between Dortmund and Bayern is not as wide as it was in Bayern’s 5-1 hammering of Der BVB earlier this season.
Bayern seal the double
As is normally the case, Bayern dominated the possession with 70% to Dortmund’s 30%. Clear shots on goal were sparse as this was highlighted with just four shots on target in the whole 120 minutes—Borussia Dortmund had just one. The game was more a battle of attrition than attacking flare as Thomas Mueller predicted when he claimed the game was going to be “a test of endurance”.
After 120 laborious minutes, the sides could not separate and the match went to penalties. Shinji Kagawa and Arturo Vidal converted each team’s first spot-kick; however, Sven Bender‘s penalty was saved by Roman Burki before former Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski made it 2-1 to Bayern. The shoot-out swung in Bayern’s favour as Dortmund again missed from the spot as Sokratis Papastathopoulos smashed his penalty against the post. They failed to capitalise as Joshua Kimmich‘s poorly struck penalty was easily stopped by Roman Burki. Prolific Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang fired Dortmund level, before Mueller put Bayern back in front with a calm finish. Marco Reus who was acting captain after Mats Hummels departed then brought the game level as he converted his penalty to make it 4-4. However, Douglas Costa who failed to make the impact on games that he usually does, scored to seal Bayern’s Munich’s seventh trophy in three years.
Pep Guardiola, was understandably emotional as his tenure at Bayern came to an end, but Bayern’s win gave the Spaniard his 21st trophy since 2009. Dortmund’s defeat has left the team trophy-less for the third consecutive season after a relentlessly long season that began in July. Despite this, Gelb-Schwarzen have still had a very positive season and have taken big steps towards building a team capable to challenge Bayern Munich’s dominance in Germany. The match was also the final time that Mats Hummels will lead Dortmund after the announcement of his imminent and controversial move to Bayern. As well as Hummels, it will almost certainly be the last trophy Mario Gotze, who missed the game due to injury, wins at Bayern Munich, after incoming manager Carlo Ancelotti told him to find a new club.
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