Harry Kane opened the scoring in the 22nd minute as FC Bayern München beat Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-0 away to reach the DFB-Pokal final.
Kane’s strike gave Bayern control early and the game was sealed deep into stoppage time when Luis Díaz netted a 93rd-minute second, a finish Kane had set up from the centre of the box in the second half. A match report noted that an earlier Díaz effort had been saved by Mark Flekken, again after a pass from Kane, underscoring how involved the striker was in both goals.
The win puts Bayern into the Berlin final on 23 May, where they will face the winner of the tie between VfB Stuttgart and SC Freiburg. One report said this is Bayern’s first appearance in the DFB-Pokal final since 2020, a return to the last stage of the competition after missing out in the seasons since. The result came on the back of a busy spell for the team, which had already clinched the Bundesliga title before the semi-final.
There were signs before kick-off that Kane might make the difference: a widely circulated prediction had him scoring in the first half, and he delivered on that forecast. Managers also shuffled lines in the days leading up to the match, with reports saying Vincent Kompany reverted to his strongest starting eleven after an earlier selection that rested regulars against VfB Stuttgart. Bayern themselves arrived having beaten notable opponents in a congested schedule, and their semi-final performance looked like a team consolidating form ahead of the cup final.
The game carried its tensions. Bayern were chasing not just a trophy but payback—Leverkusen were the side that dumped Bayern out of the competition last year—and they did not make it comfortable. Leverkusen’s form had been inconsistent in recent weeks, with reports indicating they dropped points in nine of their last 12 matches, yet they frustrated Bayern for long stretches and lived to see the match level into the second half. The late second goal underlined how marginal the tie remained until the final whistle.
Kane’s double contribution — a composed early finish and the decisive assist for Díaz’s stoppage-time strike — reshaped the narrative of Bayern’s cup run. With the Bundesliga already secured, Bayern can now aim to convert a dominant domestic season into a trophy double, and Kane has positioned himself at the heart of that bid. The immediate task is clear: prepare for a one-off final in Berlin on 23 May against either Stuttgart or Freiburg, where the winner will lift the DFB-Pokal and Bayern will attempt to turn a long-awaited final appearance into silverware.
For Kane, the semi-final was more than a goal on the scoresheet; it was a reminder that he has become the player around whom Bayern’s late-season ambitions revolve. If the team takes the form from this victory into the capital, the combination of a settled league campaign and a renewed cup appetite makes them the favourites to finish the job in Berlin.
