Tim Borowski's two goals Saturday helped Werder Bremen complete the club's first double Saturday, adding the German Cup to the Bundesliga title with a hard-earned 3-2 win against Alemannia Aachen.
The North German club captured the Cup for the fifth time in club history and fourth time in the past decade against the gutty second division club.
PHOTO: AP
"They didn't make it easy for us, but I think we deserved to win," Borowski said. "We're just so happy, incredibly happy we could complete the first double in club history."
Bremen became the fourth German team to claim the double, which has been achieved seven times.
Borowski sealed Bremen's victory and biggest moment in club history by finishing an 84th minute breakaway, putting his team up 3-1. He also scored the game's first goal in the 31st minute against the flow of play.
Croatia forward Ivan Klasnic also scored for Bremen just before the break in front of 70,000 at Berlin's Olympiastadion, where the 2006 World Cup final will be held. That put the heavy favorites up 2-0 and the match appeared decided.
But Stefan Blank lifted Aachen back into the contest with a 63rd-minute header, outjumping the defenders on a long downfield pass. Afterward, the underdogs refused to give up, even after it was down to 10 men following George Mbwando 75th-minute ejection.
Dutch forward Erik Meijer, one of the many Bundesliga veterans on the side, completed the scoring with an injury-time goal for Aachen, which knocked Bayern Munich out of the competition.
Despite losing, Aachen will play in next year's UEFA Cup. The prize usually goes to the Cup winner, but after claiming the Bundesliga crown, Bremen will play the Champions League instead.
Aachen came close to the equalizer in the 63rd minute, when Bachirou Salou's header went through the legs of 'keeper Andreas Reinke's legs, but the goalkeeper latched onto the ball before it trickled over the line.
That was as close as Aachen came to turning around the match, although it continued to threaten the German champions right up to the final whistle.
"Maybe we were a little nervous to start the match, but in the second half we gave them all they could handle," Aachen midfielder Karl-Heinz Pflipsen said. "Maybe we could have scored another goal, but in the end, Bremen deserved the victory."
Before the match, Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf vowed his team would be ready after two straight losses to end the Bundesliga season. Both came after the North German team wrapped up the title in a runaway.
"Those were two unimportant games, but I guarantee my players will be charged up Saturday," Schaaf said.
Bremen did charge out with the Bundesliga's most prolific attack and threatened to overwhelm the second division side, earning chance after chance in the first 10 minutes. But it failed to score and Aachen climbed back into the match, earning several attempts of its own.
That's when Borowski scored against the flow of play.
Germany midfielder Fabian Ernst dribbled right down to the line by the goal, then kicked the ball back out to an unmarked Borowski, who rifled the game's first score inside the right post.
Aachen rallied, but again was caught by a goal against the flow of play. Germany defender Frank Baumann stripped the ball from a player, found Klasnic streaking down the left side and the Croatia international stroked the ball inside the opposite post on the run.
For Aachen, it turned into a disappointing week. The club failed to gain promotion to the Bundesliga on the final day of the second division season, along with joining the long list of outsiders who have fought their way in the German Cup final, only to lose.
Since 1965, 14 teams playing in leagues below the Bundesliga have reached the final, with only two winning.
The game was also the farewell for Bremen forward Ailton, who had scored six goals in cup play to go along with a league-high 28 in the Bundesliga. He will join Schalke next season.
But neither Ailton or French midfielder Johan Micoud, the team's other key player, shone during the match.
Instead, it was the day for some of Bremen's rising stars like Ernst and Baumann, both who will play for Germany in the European Championship.
"It was our day, it was great and we deserved to win," Baumann said.
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