Bayern Munich head coach Hansi Flick on Wednesday was “shocked” as the holders crashed out of the DFB Pokal after defeat at second-division Holstein Kiel, who won a nail-biting penalty shoot-out 6-5, as the second round tie finished 2-2 after extra-time.
“It’s a shock. We are enormously disappointed,” Flick told Sky.
“It’s all the more annoying that we conceded an equalizer, which made it 2-2 in the last second [of normal time]. Congratulations to Kiel,” he said. “We have to put it behind us and do things better.”
Photo: AFP
Bayern forward Thomas Mueller said the defeat was “brutal.”
It was the first time Bayern had been knocked out of the cup by a non-Bundesliga club since losing to then fourth-tier Magdeburg in 2000-2001.
After Bayern midfielder Marc Roca was the first player to miss with his team’s sixth penalty, Kiel’s Fin Bartels converted the winning spot-kick to spark wild celebrations.
The upset means it was the first time European champions Bayern had been eliminated from a cup competition since Flick took charge in November 2019.
Bayern were up 2-1 thanks to goals by Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sane, either side of a superb Bartels strike, before a last-gasp header by Kiel captain Hauke Wahl on 95 minutes took the game to extra-time, then penalties.
“Even if it sounds stupid after a cup defeat against an underdog from Kiel — luck wasn’t on our side,” Mueller said.
“It’s certainly not FC Bayern’s best phase,” he added after the European champions also crashed to a 3-2 league defeat at Borussia Moenchengladbach on Friday last week.
“Being knocked out is brutal, we have to let that sink in first,” he said.
The German FA gave Bayern permission to postpone the cup tie from late last month. Bayern fielded a near-full strength side with only top-scoring striker Robert Lewandowski, who made a second-half cameo, and centerback Jerome Boateng started on the bench.
Lewandowski’s stand-in Gnabry gave Bayern the lead after only 14 minutes.
When Kiel goalkeeper Ioannis Gelios parried a Thomas Mueller header, it fell straight to the feet of Germany winger Gnabry who tapped into an empty net.
Having started this year top of the second division after five straight wins, Kiel caused nervous looks in Bayern’s ranks when Bartels, 33, put them level.
The former Werder Bremen veteran sprinted onto a long ball, avoided the challenge of Bayern defender Bouna Sarr and fired past Manuel Neuer eight minutes from halftime.
However, Sane restored the lead just three minutes after the break.
Sane expertly curled his free-kick over the Kiel wall and out of reach of Gelios’ glove.
As heavy snow started to fall, Kiel kept plugging away and were rewarded with the equalizer five minutes into stoppage-time.
Sloppy defending at a corner left Wahl free in the area and the centerback flicked his header into the far corner of the Bayern net to force extra-time.
The European champions laid siege to the Kiel goal in a bid to avoid penalties, but Gelios pulled off a string of saves.
In the final 16, Kiel are set to host fellow second-division side SV Darmstadt 98 on Feb. 2.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen, who beat Eintracht Frankfurt 4-1 on Tuesday in their postponed second-round tie, are at Rot-Weiss Essen, the only fourth-tier club left in the competition.
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