Berlin: Holders Bayern Munich will face Borussia Dortmund in next month’s German Cup final after cruising to a 5-1 win over second-division Kaiserslautern in Wednesday’s semifinal.
Bayern reached their third consecutive domestic cup final by bouncing back from successive Bundesliga defeats to see off Kaiserslautern, who had knocked out top-tier sides Bayer Leverkusen and Hertha Berlin en route to the semis.
Goals by Bastian Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos, Thomas Mueller, Mario Mandzukic and Mario Goetze saw Bayern go through to the May 17 final at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.
Bayern, who wrapped up this season’s Bundesliga title with a record seven games to spare, will face Dortmund, who shocked Bayern 3-0 in Munich in the league last Saturday, in a repeat of last season’s Champions League final.
Pep Guardiola’s Bayern had few problems against the ‘Red Devils’ of Kaiserslautern, but director of sport Matthias Sammer was unimpressed with the performance ahead of next Wednesday’s Champions League semi at Real Madrid.
Bayern needed just 24 minutes to take the lead when Germany midfielder Schweinsteiger headed home an Arjen Robben corner having earlier hit the crossbar.
Kroos doubled the hosts’ lead at the Allianz Arena on 32 minutes to make it 2-0 at the break.
Robben won a penalty five minutes into the second half when he was fouled by Kaiserslautern defender Chris Loewe and Mueller fired home the spot-kick.
Kaiserslautern striker Simon Zoller headed a consolation goal on the hour mark, with his side surviving on less than 30 percent possession, before Mandzukic netted the hosts’ fourth to end any hopes of a fight-back.
The Croatia international, who scored a hat-trick in the 5-0 quarter-final drubbing of Hamburg, converted a Goetze cross on 78 minutes.
Goetze then tapped home Bayern’s fifth just before the final whistle as the attacking midfielder beat Kaiserslautern’s off-side trap.
On Tuesday, Poland striker Robert Lewandowski hit his 100th goal for Dortmund as they beat VfL Wolfsburg 2-0 in the other semi-final.
Lewandowski, who will join Bayern at the end of the season, scored a hat-trick in the 2012 final when Dortmund routed Bayern 5-2.
Dortmund took an early lead against the Wolves when midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan unleashed a superb shot just inside the near post on 12 minutes. (AFP)
