Harry Kane saved his best for the biggest stage again. Under the lights of Berlin’s Olympiastadion, the Bayern Munich striker delivered a ruthless second-half hat-trick to sink Stuttgart 3-0 and seal a domestic double for Vincent Kompany’s side.
For long stretches, the DFB-Pokal final felt tense and unpredictable. Stuttgart, the defending champions, pressed aggressively and played with courage, forcing Bayern to remain patient in a cagey opening half.
Sebastian Hoeness’ side started brighter. Maximilian Mittelstadt and Deniz Undav led dangerous attacks, while Bayern’s stand-in goalkeeper Jonas Urbig was tested early in the contest. The absence of captain Manuel Neuer because of a calf injury added another layer of uncertainty to Bayern’s evening.
Yet elite teams rarely panic, and elite strikers need only one moment. Kane provided it in the 55th minute when Michael Olise floated a perfect cross through heavy pyrotechnic smoke hanging over the stadium. The England captain stooped low to guide his header beyond Alexander Nubel and finally break Stuttgart’s resistance.
The goal changed the mood instantly. Bayern’s travelling supporters erupted, red flares lit the Berlin sky, and Stuttgart suddenly looked drained after spending so much energy containing Kompany’s relentless side.
“We wanted to make it nasty for Bayern,” Stuttgart striker Deniz Undav admitted afterward. “But you can’t lose sight of Harry Kane.”
That sentence summed up the final perfectly. Bayern were dangerous throughout, but Kane remained the difference between the two teams.
His second goal showed another side of his game. After exchanging passes with Luis Diaz, Kane spun sharply inside the box before calmly slotting home in the 80th minute. Ten minutes earlier, he had rattled the crossbar with a thunderous strike, a warning Stuttgart could not survive.
By stoppage time, the result was beyond doubt. A handball from Angelo Stiller gave Bayern a penalty, and Kane stepped forward with complete composure to complete his hat-trick and his second successive treble of goals in as many matches.
The numbers behind his season are staggering. Kane now finishes the campaign with 61 goals in 51 appearances, one of the greatest scoring seasons by a Bayern player in modern history. Since arriving from Tottenham in 2023, he has now collected four trophies and finally silenced years of unfair talk about silverware.
The victory also carried historic weight for Bayern. It secured their 21st German Cup title, their first since 2020, and completed the club’s 14th domestic double. The win also matched the club’s record of 46 victories in a season, previously achieved by the legendary treble-winning side of 2012-13.
Joshua Kimmich captured the feeling around the squad. “Every one of us was happy to finally be back in Berlin,” he said. “We wanted to win this here at all costs.”
Questions about Kane’s future still remain after recent links to Barcelona, but the striker was in no mood to entertain transfer talk. “Everyone knows how much I enjoy it here,” he said in an interview. “That situation is calm.”
On this evidence, Bayern will hope it stays that way for a long time yet.
