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Bayern Munich win German Cup

April 20, 2008 09:14 IST
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Italian Luca Toni struck twice to earn Bayern Munich a 2-1 extra-time win over Borussia Dortmund in the German Cup final on Saturday.

The victory gave the Bavarians a record 14th win in the competition and set up a likely domestic double.

Toni scored his first goal in the 11th minute and Bayern were heading for victory before Mladen Petric struck in the second minute of added time to level the scores and bring heroic Dortmund back from the brink at the Olympiastadion.

Bayern struggled to keep Dortmund at bay in extra-time before Italy striker Toni wrongfooted Dortmund goalkeeper Marc Ziegler in the 103rd minute to seal the victory with the 35th goal of his remarkable debut season in Germany.

Dortmund finished with 10 men after Jakub Blaszczykowski received a second booking in the 108th minute.

Bayern hold a 10-point lead in the Bundesliga with five matches to play and should go on to complete their third league and cup double in four seasons.

They could even make it a treble, with the first leg of their UEFA Cup semi-final with Zenit St Petersburg on Thursday.

"I hope there are a lot more goals to come," Toni told reporters. "There are still two titles to win."

Ottmar Hitzfeld's side had beaten Dortmund 5-0 in the Bundesliga the previous weekend and the way they started made a similar result look possible.

Philipp Lahm gave Dortmund an early bout of nerves when he surged forward from left-back and tested Ziegler from 25 metres before a perfectly worked opening goal.

GLIDING RUN

Franck Ribery seemed to glide past the defence on the left-hand side before pulling the pull back low for Toni to provide his usual lethal touch, after nipping in ahead of Dede.

Ribery continued to cause trouble before an aggressive Dortmund fought their way back into the game.

Florian Kringe turned just outside the box and brought the first save from Oliver Kahn in the 31st minute.

Four minutes later Bayern's Martin Demichelis would have conceded a penalty for a push on Alex Frei had the flag not gone up for offside.

Kringe's shot was saved point-blank by Kahn in the 66th minute and Tinga was only just wide when he burst through a few minutes later.

Bayern looked increasingly rattled and Dortmund duly found a way through at the very end of normal time.

Argentina defender Demichelis needlessly gave away a corner and Bayern missed a couple of chances to clear before Petric took the chance to tap the ball in.

The goal set the much noisier Dortmund contingent in the 74,000 full house wild but their joy was short-lived as Toni diverted a shot from substitute Lukas Podolski into the net.

"If you take away the first 30 minutes we were the better team," Dortmund coach Thomas Doll told reporters. "I'm so proud of my team."

It was the fourth successive match to feature two goals from Toni and made it a triumphant return to the Olympiastadion, where he was part of the Italy team that beat France to win the 2006 World Cup final.

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Source: REUTERS
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