German Cup Final: Bayern Munich Beats Schalke 2-1
May 29, 2005Bayern Munich have sealed their fifth double. Tough luck for Schalke -- they finish second in the Bundesliga behind Bayern and also lose the the German cup final to Bayern.
Congratulations to Bayern and Felix Magath, who in his first season as Bayern coach has managed to win the double.
The last coach to win the double in his maiden season at Bayern was Croatian Branco Zebec back in 1969 when his Bayern side also defeated Schalke in the final.
It was a match in which Bayern were clearly the better side. They missed three clear chances in the first half and were unlucky to have a goal disallowed for an offsides penalty.
Roy Mackay put the Bundesliga Champions ahead in the 42nd minute. Brazilian Lincoln equalized for Schalke with a hotly disputed penalty on the stroke of half time. Substitute Hasan Salihamidic came on to score Bayern's winner in the 76th minute. However, television replays showed the he was clearly offsides when fed by Roy Makaay.
All in all, there can be no complaints from Schalke though and their fans were celebrating at the end of the game as if their side had won. Schalke's Brazilian superstar Ailton will be disappointed though. Somehow this match was symptomatic for his season. Ailton was substituted and will be thinking back nostalgically to this time last year when he clinched the double with his former club Werder Bremen in the very same Olympic stadium.
It was a good season for Schalke, despite finishing without any silverware. Their coach, Ralf Rangnick, was philosophical.
"We went from 15th to second and were in first place for a number of weeks," he said. "We're clearly the number two team behind Bayern and it was a great season."
Bayern coach Felix Magath agreed.
"We played consistent football at a high level all season. And at the end of the season we showed we were able to play an entire season like that."
Bayern won the Bundesliga with 77 points from 34 matches ahead of Schalke who finished as the runner-up with 63 points.
The renovated Berlin Olympic stadium will host the World Cup final next year.