Harry Kane scored a penalty and Luis Diaz struck again as Bayern Munich beat RB Leipzig 2-0 on Wednesday to reach the German Cup semi-finals for the first time since 2020.
Already on the wrong side of two Bayern thumpings this season, Leipzig were much improved but the hosts grabbed hold of the match with two goals in four second-half minutes.
Bayern join holders Stuttgart, Bayer Leverkusen and Freiburg in the last four of this season’s competition.
Kane’s penalty was his 39th goal in all competitions for Bayern this season, while Diaz’s goal was his fifth in his past three matches.
“I don’t know if he was born like that, but he has talent and he worked hard to improve it. And we’re enjoying these moments with Harry,” Bayern coach Vincent Kompany said of Kane.
Winners of this competition a record 20 times, 14 more than any other club, Bayern had failed to make it past the quarter-finals since 2020.
“When you want to win here you need a bit of the luck of the game and maybe a decision or two from the referee, but that luck wasn’t on our side today,” Leipzig captain David Raum told ARD.
“We conceded two dumb goals –- I think there was more in it for us.”
Leipzig have won two German Cups since the Bavarians’ last final appearance but Bayern had form over the visitors this season, winning their two Bundesliga clashes by a combined score of 11-1.
Leipzig pressured the hosts early and were celebrating a goal after just four minutes, but an acrobatic Christoph Baumgartner strike was disallowed for a narrow offside.
Bayern almost immediately made the most of the let-off, Kane forcing a last-ditch clearance from Ridle Baku with Leipzig goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt laying on the turf.
The home side gradually wrestled control of the match and were unlucky not to take the lead with 57 minutes gone when Vandevoordt denied Serge Gnabry with a stunning save.
Bayern were in front just five minutes later, Kane converting from the spot after Vandevoordt felled an advancing Josip Stanisic in the box.
Kane’s spot-kick, his fifth goal versus Leipzig this season, was his 12th penalty in all competitions this campaign.
Bayern’s goals this season have often come in bursts and the Bavarians scored again just four minutes later, when Michael Olise found Diaz on the counter to help book a spot in the semis.
The German Cup final will be held at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on May 23.
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