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- Australasia gets represented in the Premier League this year!
- Sanchez in North London, Where Have We Heard That Before?
- Sigurdsson Sale: Swansea could face Ragnarok after losing Thor!
- 2017/18 Premier League Predictions!
- PSG set to trigger record Neymar Fee!
- Mourinho thrives with a Prag-Matic approach!
- The Loan Ranger: Game of Loans!
- Rome(-lu) Wasn’t Built In A Day, But Hernandez Is Heading Hammers Way!
- Man United, Arsenal, and Huddersfield are all in a dash to splash the cash!
MOTD- Bayern Munich 3-2 VfB Stuttgart
Bayern Munich have become only the seventh European side to complete the League, Cup, and Champions League treble as they hold out a 3-2 win over Stuttgart in the DfB-Pokal final. Bayern held on to cement their place at the top of European football in manager Jupp Heynckes’ last match, with the German’s side holding on to the win in a thrilling night in Berlin.
Heynckes should have been pleased with Bayern’s start, and the Champions League winners controlled the opening minutes. The Bavarians’ came close to opening the lead while only three minutes on the clock, and Arjen Robben was slipped in down the left by Javi Martinez, before Robben saw his cross deflected inches wide of the far post. Gradually though, Stuttgart grabbed a foothold in the match, and when Ibrahima Traore beat his marker and sent a brilliant cross into the box, Alexandru Maxim volleyed the cross inches wide of the far post.
Stuttgart nearly took the lead midway through the first half, and it took some brilliant goalkeeping from Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to stop Stuttgart from going ahead. Vedad Ibisevic’s header on goal was somehow parried away by Neuer, who could only take it in the direction of Georg Niedermeier. Amazingly, Neuer managed to scamper across goal to block Niedermeier’s tap-in from two-yards out, and the save acted as a wake-up call to Bayern, who then, after David Alaba had his shot straight at Stuttgart goalkeeper Sven Ulreich blocked, took the lead in the thirty-sixth minute. Philipp Lahm was put taken down in the penalty area by Traore, and referee Manuel Grafe surprisingly awarded the penalty, which Tomas Muller curled into the bottom corner of the net after sending Ulreich the wrong way.
Although Stuttgart looked for an equalizer, Bayern managed to double their lead only two minutes into the second half when Robben slipped in Lahm down the right side of the Stuttgart box. Lahm cut the ball across goal to Mario Gomez, who simply guided the ball into the back of the open net. The Bavarians ended any hopes of a Stuttgart comeback on the hour mark, when Lahm’s brilliant through ball found the run of Muller down the right. Muller squared it beyond the reach of Ulreich to Gomez, who, from seven yards out, again coolly played stroked the ball into the back of the net.
Still, Stuttgart refused to lay low, with Bruno Labbadia’s men grabbing their first goal of the match in the seventieth minute. Martin Harnik’s bullet header from eight yards out whizzed past Neuer into the top corner of the net from Gotoku Sakai’s wonderful deep cross from the left. Stuttgart poured forward, and set the game up for a dramatic finish by grabbing a second in the eightieth minute. From the remains of a corner, Shinji Okazaki’s low shot from the edge of the box bounced back into the Bayern box off the post, falling to Harnik, who saw his first effort saved by Neuer and bounce back to him, before having his second attempt streak past Neuer into the back of the net from five yards out on the left side of the box. Although Stuttgart put heavy pressure on Bayern in the final minutes, The Bavarians held on to their lead, winning the German treble by claiming the Pokal.
Man of the Match: Mario Gomez