Kane and Bayern keep Union at bay to reach German Cup quarters

By : AFP

Date: 4 December 2025 9:23am WAT

Share :

Harry Kane.

Harry Kane.

Harry Kane scored a first-half header as Bayern Munich did just enough to reach the German Cup quarter-finals in a 3-2 win at Union Berlin on Wednesday.

Bayern gave away two penalties and Union scored two own-goals in a wild encounter in the German capital.

Both own-goals came from Bayern set-pieces, while Union’s Leopold Querfeld twice converted from the spot.

The win takes Bayern through to the last eight of the German Cup — a competition they have won a record 20 times — for just the second time in the past six seasons. “It hasn’t been our competition in the past few years and we spoke at the start of the season about giving ourselves the best opportunity,” Kane told reporters. “Tonight we found a way to get through even if it wasn’t our prettiest game. We back ourselves to beat any team at the moment.”

Bayern travelled to Berlin to face the only side to take a point off them in 19 games in Germany this season, with the sides fighting out a 2-2 draw at the same venue in early November.

Union’s hopes of another surprise result took an early hit when Ilyas Ansah let a Joshua Kimmich corner bounce off his thigh and into his own net with 12 minutes gone.

The hosts were undone again by another Kimmich corner 12 minutes later, with Kane jumping high to double Bayern’s lead.

A Jonathan Tah handball brought Union a penalty, converted by Querfeld on the 40-minute mark, but the hosts gifted Bayern another goal just before half-time, Union’s Diogo Leite heading in a Michael Olise free-kick.

Bayern again invited Union into the match early in the second half, Kane giving away a penalty for a stray elbow, which Querfeld again converted to cut the deficit to one.

The penalty galvanised the hosts, who pinned their star opponents back for much of the second half, but Bayern did just enough to hold on and reach the next round.

Bayern will be joined in the quarter-finals by Holstein Kiel, who triumphed on penalties 4-2 away against three-time winners Hamburg in a match which finished 1-

1.

– ‘Ugly performance’ – Hamburg’s Bakery Jatta scored with 107 minutes gone but Phil Harres levelled things up for Kiel with an expert free-kick in the 118th minute.

Miro Muheim and Aboubaka Soumahoro missed for the hosts, with Harres stepping up to convert the crucial spot-kick.

Earlier on Wednesday, defending champions Stuttgart booked their spot in the quarter-finals with a 2-0 win away to 10-man Bochum.

Bochum defender Philipp Strompf had a horror first half, looping a header into his own net and then getting sent off just before half-time.

Stuttgart striker Deniz Undav put his team firmly on track for victory with a header early in the second half, lifting his tally to seven goals in his past four games across the league and cup.

Undav told Germany’s ARD he “wasn’t satisfied” with the “ugly performance”, but added: “We played weirdly, we were erratic, but in the cup it only matters if you progress.”

Stuttgart will be joined in the next round by Freiburg, who won 2-0 at home against second-division Darmstadt, thanks to a penalty from Vincenzo Grifo and a Lucas Hoeler goal.

Bayer Leverkusen, St Pauli, RB Leipzig and Hertha Berlin all won on Tuesday to reach the last eight.

Tags: