Some watched TV series on their tablets, others listened to the music of DJ Rafinha. Another group had not had enough of sporting competition and went racing on their games consoles. Whatever the Bayern players were doing after their convincing 6-0 win at Paderborn in the DFB Cup quarter-finals, they were doing it happily. Job done!
“We were obviously forewarned,” said Jupp Heynckes after the match, highlighting that Bayern had prepared for the visit to the third-tier side as professionally as they always do. “I showed the squad lots of video clips. We were very motivated going into the game and accepted the pitch conditions,” stated the satisfied head coach. “It was a top team performance with good goals, but if we hadn’t had such a good attitude then the result wouldn’t have been as clear as it was.”
Particularly as the third division leaders threatened the record cup winners at times. Paderborn played with courage and did not deviate from the attacking philosophy of their coach Steffen Baumgart. The team from North Rhine-Westphalia had 12 attempts on Sven Ulreich’s goal – the most any side have had against Bayern in the cup since Leverkusen in April 2015. “Paderborn didn’t play like a team from the third division. The way they played the ball out from the back was really good,” praised Niklas Süle.
“Let’s see who we get”
Bayern also enjoyed themselves during the match, though, and their individual class shone through twice in the opening 25 minutes as goals from Kingsley Coman and Robert Lewandowski put them in control. “It impressed me that the whole team put in a good performance and showed how much they wanted to get to the semi-finals,” lauded Heynckes. Five different goal scorers, six different assist providers – Bayern showed an incredible amount of variation.
“All of us are capable of scoring or setting up a goal, which shows how much quality we have in the squad,” commented Joshua Kimmich, who made it 3-0 shortly before half-time when he finished after a wonderful ball from Mats Hummels. The fourth goal from substitute Corentin Tolisso in the 55th minute more or less sealed the result, but Arjen Robben put the icing on the cake with a quick-fire brace in the closing stages. It was his first brace since scoring twice against the same opponents nearly three years ago, when the match also finished 6-0 to Bayern.
“We really want to win the double and reach the final in Berlin because we know what a great experience it is,” said the Dutchman, describing his endless motivation to contribute to the Reds’ success. “We’re now one game away from Berlin,” added Kimmich, looking ahead to the semi-finals which Bayern have reached for the ninth year in a row. Kimmich and his teammates are eagerly anticipating Sunday’s draw: “Let’s see who we get!”
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