The Daily Bee (May 27th, 2019): Bayern’s DFB Cup win, relegation playoff and Watzke comments on transfers

• Bayern win the national double

Bayern Munich won the DFB Cup final against RB Leipzig with 3:0. A Lewandowski brace and another goal from Coman sealed the national double for the Bavarians. Leipzig started out strong but could not convert any of their chances. Niko Kovac’s team got better as the the game went on and ultimately were the better team over 90 minutes and deserved the victory.

This result also had implications for Dortmund as the black and yellows will now play the first Der Klassiker of next season in the Supercup which will be on August 3rd or 4th just before the start of next season.

• BVB close to signing Danish talent (transfermarkt)

According to transfermarkt Borussia Dortmund is close to signing Magnus Kaastrup from Aarhus GF. The talented young winger (18) would be on loan for one season but BVB would secure an option to buy Kaastrup for 5€ million if he proves himself during his time in Dortmund. Considering the talent BVB already have at the winger position it is likely that Kaastrup will play for BVB II at first and hopefully be an option for the first team in the future.

• Watzke talks about Sancho, Mandzukic and BVB’s summer moves (Bild)

In an interview with Bild Hans-Joachim Watzke has talked about several topics, most notably Dortmund’s early transfer business.

“We wanted to plan before the prices continue to swing up. If you look at the totals, you can see that we were not wasteful: we got around 64 million euros for Christian Pulisic and invested around 10 million euros net for the three new entrants - turning one into three. My big compliment goes to our sports director Michael Zorc“

About the currenty striker discussion Watzke did not seem to pressured to sign one:

“We still have ideas, but they are not always easy to implement. This phantom discussion about a striker is a classic reflex. The more center-forward competition you have, the more you will see that everyone is getting weaker.“

And about Mandzukic:

“We do not have to discuss Mandzukic, he is currently a player of Juventus Turin. In football, nothing is ever excluded. He plays in Turin. And just as I know Mario Mandzukic, he’s a forward with so much ambition that he always wants to play.“

It seems like Borussia Dortmund still want to improve the team but striker is likely not a top priority right now as they plan with Paco Alcacer, Mario Götze and possibly even Alexander Isak for that position.

In addition Watzke once again confirmed that Jadon Sancho is not for sale and will play for Dortmund next season and he expressed his wish to see Götze get another chance in the German national team.

• Favre extension incoming (kicker)

Lucien Favre will likely sign a 2-year extension with BVB that will keep him in Dortmund until 2022. The Swiss coach deserves the new contract considering the turnaround of the black and yellows from the previous season and the unexpected title challenge they put up.

• Relegation playoff

Union Berlin will host VfB Stuttgart in the second leg of the relegation playoff today and will go into the match with a significant advantage after the 2:2 in the first leg. Stuttgart were the favorites going into the tie but they need a win in Berlin (or a draw with more than 2 goals) to keep their spot in the Bundesliga.