Harry Kane scored a brace as Bayern Munich came from behind to beat Cologne 4-1 in the German Cup on Wednesday and with it made history as the first team from Europe's top five leagues to win the first 14 matches of a season, reported dpa.
Bayern fell behind in Cologne from Ragnar Ache in the 31st minute but Luis Diaz in the 36th, Kane in the 38th and 64th and Michael Olise in the 72nd turned around matters in the second round match.
Bayern were lucky on the equalizer because the match officials did not see that Diaz was slightly offside and video reviews are not used in the first two rounds of the competition.
Bayern's 14th win moved them one ahead of Italy's AC Milan who had won 13 matches at the start of the 1992-93 campaign.
"It was a fight like a cup game can be. I am satisfied with the fighting mentality of the lads. You trail 1-0 but make it 2-1 and we stayed dangerous in the second half and kept up our intensity," Bayern coach Vincent Kompany told broadcasters ARD.
In other action. ttle holders VfB Stuttgart beat Mainz for the second time in four days with a 2-0 scoreline, and the 2024 winners Bayer Leverkusen survived 10-man Paderborn 4-2 in extra time.
Cologne draw first blood
Bayern are record German Cup winners with 20 titles but the last one dates back to the 2019-20 treble-winning season.
They have not gone beyond the quarter-finals since then, three of those exits came in the third round, and they also had a difficult start against Cologne who started bravely.
Jonas Urbig, standing in for the suspended Manuel Neuer, was forced to a big save against his former club from Isak Johannesson's blast.
And Bayern then fell behind for the first time in the season when Ache headed Cologne home Johannesson's corner kick in the 31st.
Bayern hit back quickly
But Bayern needed a mere seven minutes to turn matters around.
Diaz tapped a 36th-minute equalizer after goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler had saved a first attempt from Josip Stanisic, and the goal stood due to the absence of VAR.
There was no debate two minutes later when Kane got the ball with his back to goal, turned 180 degrees and fired past Zieler into the top far corner.
Diaz aimed wide with only Zieler to beat after the restart but Kane headed the third in the 64th minute off a corner kick from Joshua Kimmich for his 22nd club goal of the season, and Olise wrapped up matters on the counter in the 72nd.
"We are happy as a team. My personal emotions are secondary. We did well well as a team to come back," Urbig said.
Lucky Leverkusen
With penalties looming in Paderborn, Ibrahim Maza grabbed a 3-2 lead for Leverkusen at their second division opponents in stoppage time of extra time, and Aleix Garcia hit the empty net with the last kick of the game for a final 4-2 score.
Leverkusen led from Alejandro Grimaldo's 60th minute free-kick into the top left corner which was awarded after Felix Götze had brought down Christian Kofane and was sent off for it.
But Paderborn levelled in the 90th minute from Stefano Marino's header to force extra time where Sven Michel put the underdogs ahead in the 96th. Jarell Quansah made it 2-2 in the 105th before Leverkusen stole the late win.
Stuttgart and other games
Stuttgart defeated Mainz 2-1 at home in the Bundesliga on Sunday and repeated the feat in the Cup in Mainz. Luca Jaquez headed them ahead in the sixth minute and captain Atakan Karazor wrapped up matters with a curling shot into the far corner in the 73rd.
Last season's surprise finalists Arminia Bielefeld of the second division went out 2-1 in extra time at Union Berlin from Danilho Doekhi's 106th minute goal.
Freiburg also advanced along with second tier sides Darmstadt, Kaiserslautern and Magdeburg.
The other eight teams led by Borussia Dortmund advanced on Tuesday. The third round is drawn on Sunday and played December 2 and 3. The final is on May 23, 2026, in Berlin.
- Kane
- Bayern Munich
- German Cup
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
