Bayern Munich will look to complete the League/Cup double as they take on RB Leipzig who are searching for their 1st major trophy in a much anticipated DFB Pokal Final between two of the best German sides!
RB Leipzig’s amazing rise has continued on this season as they are in their first ever DFB Pokal Final. With the club founded just 10 years ago it’s quite incredible how much they’ve already achieved, starting off in the 5th tier of German football, they have not only gotten all the way to Bundesliga but then achieved two top 3 finishes in the league, played Champions League football, achieved a Europa League Quarter Final and now they are in their first DFB Pokal Final!
Meanwhile for Bayern, the DFB Pokal Final tends to be a regular occurrence to no surprise considering they’re by far the biggest German club in the world. This will now be their 23rd German Cup Final in clubs history, they previously won 18 of their first 22 and their 18 DFB Pokal cups is more than any other club has won, in fact that’s 12 more than the 2nd club with most DFB Pokal in Bremen who have 6. Bayern have not won this trophy since 2016 and did lose the Final last year when they faced Frankfurt losing 1-3 and will seek redemption from that in hopes of winning their 19th DFB Pokal trophy.
Leipzig have not had an easy run in the Cup this year having to face 3 Bundesliga sides on the way of which 2 were in the top half of the table. Leipzig started with a 1-3 win against lower division Viktoria Koln which was a tough game as they were 1-0 behind 60 minutes in before scoring 3 goals. Then they knocked off Wolfsburg at home 2-0, Hoffenheim at home 1-0, beat Augsburg away in the Quarters 1-2 thanks to a 120 minute goal and eventually made the Final with a 3-1 win against Hamburg. Just like in the league, they have been great defensively only conceding 3 goals in 5 cup games and keeping 2 clean sheets helping them get all the way to this point.
As for Bayern, well their run hasn’t been easy either (no wins by multiple goals) and we’ve seen some extremely high scoring Bayern games in the DFB Pokal with them scoring lots and conceding quite a few too which is unusual for a Bayern side. Bayern started with a 1-0 win against lower leagues Drochtersen/Assel which proved to be a very tough win as they didn’t net until the final 10 mins. Then Bayern beat another lower league side Rodinghausen 1-2 followed that up with a very tough 2-3 win away at Hertha after ET, they then beat lower league Heidenheim in what arguably was the game of the season 5-4 and then eventually made the Final beating Werder Bremen 2-3 in what again was a crazy game with lots of late goals. Bayern’s games have averaged 4.6 goals per game in the DFB Pokal with them scoring 2.8 per game and conceding 1.8 per game. They have been extremely entertaining this competition this season so far.
Leipzig are entering this game on a 3 game win-less streak drawing 2 of those and losing 1. Leipzig have had nothing to play for during these 3 games though considering they had 3rd placed secured in the league and were never in the title race so you can definitely make a case that their focus has been shifted to the Cup rather than the league over the past few weeks. Leipzig did have a 18 game unbeaten run before losing to Bremen on the last day of the league season from which they had won 13 and drawn 5. Only concern for Leipzig has to be the lack of high intensity matches towards the end of the season and whether they can flick that switch after not playing any important games for pretty much a month now.
Bayern are coming into this Final on a sensational run of form. Unbeaten in 17 straight games domestically (14W 3D) and are coming off one of their best performances of the season when they absolutely destroyed Frankfurt 5-1 to clinch the league title in a match where they created chance after chance and could’ve easily made gone into 7-8 or maybe more goals if not for Frankfurt’s keepers Kevin Trapp amazing saves. Bayern’s attack has been the hottest it’s been all year long, they’ve scored 55 goals in the last 17 domestic games (League/Cup) scoring 3 or more in 12 of those games.
Timo Werner is the man to watch for Leipzig. He’s been their top scorer and arguably their best attacking player for a couple of years now and this year has been pretty much the same with him scoring 19 total goals (3 in 3 Cup Games). Werner is coming into this game on a decent run of form having scored 5 and assisted 3 goals in his last 8 appearances.
Robert Lewandowski is of course the man to watch for Bayern. Who else but their big man up front? Another fantastic season, golden boot in Bundesliga with 22 goals, 8 goals in 8 CL games and 5 goals in 4 DFB Pokal while also bagging a hattrick in the Super Cup to start the season. Lewandowski is the ultimate big game player and loves scoring goals in games like these. This will be his 5th career DFB Pokal Final scoring 4 goals in his 4 previous ones including bagging a hattrick in 2012, also scoring last year in the 1-3 defeat to Frankfurt. Lewandowski failed to score in his last 2 apps, but he hasn’t done without scoring in 3 consecutive apps in 3 months so it’s only safe to say that he’s due to score here.
Leipzig and Bayern have faced each other 7 times since the 2016-17 season. Bayern have won 4 of those meetings, 2 were draws (One of those were in the DFB Pokal, Bayern ended up winning on Pens) and Leipzig had 1 win in 90 mins of play.
Bayern and Leipzig have had quite the low scoring games recently as the last 5 H2H meetings have only seen 8 goals with 4 of those 5 games having Under 2.5 goals. During this season’s H2H, we only saw 1 goal in 2 match ups between Bayern and Leipzig (Bayern 1-0 Leipzig, Leipzig 0-0 Bayern).
Bayern Munich are of course the favourites to win this game in 90 minutes offered at 1.57 whereas Leipzig to win is 5.70 with Draw offered at 4.25. These odds are from TonyBet.
Team News
RB Leipzig: Leipzig don’t have any serious injury concerns and are expected to field the strongest possible side after resting some 1st team regulars in the final Bundesliga game last week.
Bayern Munich: Javi Martinez is doubtful, meanwhile Manuel Neuer and James Rodriguez have returned to training although there isn’t an official word whether they will be fit enough to play the Final.
Betting Stats
*Stats will be based off Bundesliga for more accurate representation how these teams get on. (Win/Void/Loss Format).
RB Leipzig have covered 38.2% of their total goal overs this season (13-4-17). 2nd worst in top flight.
RB Leipzig have covered 38.2% of their total 1st half goal overs this season (13-4-17).
RB Leipzig average 1.88 bookings per game this season (64 bookings in 34 games).
RB Leipzig have covered 50% of their Handicaps this season (17-3-14).
RB Leipzig have covered 58.8% of their 1st Half Handicaps this season (20-1-13).
Bayern Munich have covered 50% of their total goal overs this season (17-2-15).
Bayern Munich have covered 52.9% of their total 1st half goal overs this season (18-0-16). Best in top flight.
Bayern Munich average 1.35 bookings per game this season (46 bookings in 34 games).
Bayern Munich have covered 47.1% of their Handicaps this season (16-1-17).
Bayern Munich have covered 55.9% of their 1st half Handicaps this season (19-1-14).
Recent DFB Pokal Final Stats – This Decade (2010-2018)
Average Number of goals – 3.78 (34 Goals in 9 Games)
Over/Under 2.5 – 7 Over (77.7%), 2 Under (22.3%)
Over/Under 3.5 – 6 Over (66.7%), 3 Under (33.3%)
Pre-Match Odds Favourites Lifting the Trophy – 6 (66.7%)
Pre-Match Odds Underdogs Lifting the Trophy – 3 (33.3%)
Average Bookings Per Game – 6 – (45 Bookings in 9 Games)
Games to go to Extra Time – 2 (22.2%)
Games to go to Penalties – 1 (11.1%)
Games Decided in 90 Mins – 7 (77.3%)
*If you’re new to football betting, you can read our Asian Handicap betting guide.
KICK OFF – 25th May 2019 – 7pm UK Time
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