Bayern gained a measure of revenge for defeat to Dortmund in last season’s DFB Cup final and underlined their status as the best team in Germany right now with a narrow but merited cup quarter-final victory over arch-rivals BVB. Arjen Robben’s 43rd-minute goal gave Munich the edge in an always absorbing contest, as FCB ended a run of six league and cup meetings without a win against the Ruhr Valley side.
The 71,000 full house at the Allianz Arena saw the game ebb and flow for half an hour, before Jupp Heynckes’ men cranked up the pressure and were rewarded with Robben’s curled opener two minutes from half-time.
The visitors made a fist of it after the restart, but Manuel Neuer and company held firm and threatened at the other end too, Daniel van Buyten heading over from point-blank range and Dante seeing a header cleared off the line. FCB withstood a frantic finish without undue concern to deservedly book a place in the last four.
The draw for the semi-finals, where 15-time winners FCB will face Freiburg, Wolfsburg or Stuttgart, takes place on Sunday evening. The Bavarians are next in action away to struggling Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga on Sunday afternoon, with no midweek game for a change prior to the home meeting with Fortuna Düsseldorf the following Saturday.
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