DFB Pokal 2013: Bayern Munich Vs VfB Stuttgart - Five talking points

The final game of the European football season took place in Berlin. The DFB Pokal final was held between Bayern Munich and VfB Stuttgart, with Bayern being the favourites to win the cup, having already done the double of the league and Champions League. The game was everything a final should be, with both teams having clear-cut opportunities to go ahead. Stuttgart started the brighter of the two teams and should have gone ahead in the first half when they took the game to Munich. Once Bayern got into their rhythm, there was no stopping them. However, it took a penalty from Muller to kick start the engine.

Bayern then dominated and scored twice through the seldom-used Mario Gomez, who was chosen to lead the attack in place of Mandzukic. With Munich 3-0 up, you would have expected a pasting for Stuttgart; but no German team ever gives up, and Stuttgart almost made a comeback with two goals from Martin Harnik, leading to a very tense final ten minutes. Eventually Bayern did hold on and etched their name in history by becoming the first German club to do the treble, winning the league, domestic cup and the Champions League in the same season, and only the 7th club in history to achieve this feat – a fitting tribute to outgoing and possible retiring manager Jupp Heynckes.

With Bayern going into the history books, here are the five talking points from the Pokal final.

To counter Bayern, you have to counter Bayern

Bayern had swept aside all the teams that they came across this season, including the mighty Catalans. Bayern made the Barca team look like a bunch of Sunday League players. Stuttgart are no Barcelona or Real Madrid, but their counter-attacking ability caught Bayern off guard time and again. Stuttgart should have taken the lead before they gave a needless penalty away, and it needed a smart double save from Manuel Neuer to keep the scores at 0-0. So the lesson to be learn is: if you have to beat Bayern , you need to get your speed boots on and counter the living daylights out of them.

What does the future hold for Gomez?

Mario Gomez, German international, star striker and a former automatic starting place holder for Munich, is now part of a squad selection dilemma with the rise of Mario Mandzukic. Gomez showed everyone that he still is a top striker and can lead the line very well. Most analysts predicted that this could his final game for Munich and hence was given the start against his former club Stuttgart. Gomez’s performance has come at the right time and he could be off to sunnier shores in the next couple of months.

Can you “Pep” this up?

Pep Guardiola has his work cut out for him, as he will be judged based on this season, as Jupp Heynckes and his all-conquering Bayern team won every competition they took part in, as stated earlier, becoming the first German club to do the treble. How can Pep make the team any better? They have already signed Mario Gotze, and a few more high-profile names are to sign up for Bayern. Will Pep evolve the Bayern team, or will he try to revolutionize their style of play and make it more Barca-like? It would be interesting to see what he does since this Bayern team have taken up the mantle of world-dominators from the Barcelona team that Pep managed.

Stuttgart should build on this performance

Not many gave Stuttgart a chance in the final, and, for most of the game, it seemed like it was too tough a challenge for the team that finished in 12th position in the Bundesliga. However, their performance in the start of the game and at the end, when they scored 2 goals, really gave Munich a scare. Stuttgart deserved something from the game and should have taken it to extra time when Japanese international Shinji Okazaki headed a glorious chance wide in the 92nd minute. It would have been a fitting reply as well, coming back from 3-0 down to take the German and European Champions to extra time, but that’s how the cookie crumbles and now Stuttgart must look to the Europa League for solace as they start from the 3rd qualifying round of the tournament.

The Greatest Munich team ever?

This statement might raise a few eyebrows, but based on statistics alone, this has to be the best Bayern Munich team ever, even when compared to the team consisting of greats like Beckenbauer, Matthaus, Oliver Kahn, Mehmet Scholl and Effenberg, as none of those teams could match the success of this Bayern Munich squad. We must also note that Bayern did not have three starters for this game, as Badstuber and Toni Kroos were ruled out by injuries and the Brazilian pair of Dante and Luiz Gustavo were called up by their national squad for the friendly against England. A lot of their players are still young and would be replacements for the likes Robben, Ribery, Lahm etc, as most German clubs have a very good youth setup as well. From the way things are going, Bayern Munich could dominate Germany and Europe for long time to come.