Bayern Munich started the season with a 2-1 win over VfB Stuttgart in the German Super Cup, clinched another Bundesliga title with a 4-2 win over them and so it was only fitting that they ended a near perfect campaign with a 3-0 victory in their latest duel to finally lift the German Cup again.
Stuttgart are among the top German teams but like most others found no answere against the ruthless Bayern scoring machine led by Harry Kane.
The England captain alone scored nine of Bayern’s 14 season goals against Stuttgart, with Bayern also winning the other Bundesliga fisture 5-0.
Sensational Kane
Kane’s hat-trick on Saturday saw him finish the season with 61 goals in 51 matches across all competitions and he has now won four trophies with Bayern since arriving in 2023 from Tottenham Hotspur without a single one.
“This was definitely one of the best nights of my career. I was so looking forward to this final. I’d heard so much from all the players who’d experienced this final before with the club,” he said.
“I wanted to make the team proud; I wanted to make the fans proud. And to score a hat-trick in a final, it’s just such a special game and special feeling. I’m so proud of that. It was a long and hard season. Ending it like this is perfect.”
Double but no treble
Bayern won the German Cup for the first time since 2020 when they claimed a treble by winning the Champions League as well. Not featuring in the European final next Saturday was the only damper for hungry Bayern who narrowly went out in the semi-finals against Paris Saint-Germain.
But that didn’t sour the mood on Saturday night as board member for sport Max Eberl said: “The entire season has been extraordinary. We really deserve to win the double. The cup is coming back to Munich – the crowning of an amazing season.
“Obviously the team does their bit, but we’re so blessed with our attack. And Harry just has that something special, so we’re really happy to have him,” he added.
Classy attacking trio
The numbers prove him right as forwards Kane, Michael Olise and Luis Diaz scored all of Bayern’s 17 goals in the Cup, 66 of their record-breaking 122 in the Bundesliga and 26 of their 43 in the Champions League.
Including the Super Cup, the trio scored 109 goals as Olise had 22 goals and 26 assists and summer signing Diaz 26 goals and 19 assists.
Bayern lost only three of their 55 matches across all competitions in 2025-26, against Augsburg in the Bundesliga and against the two Champions League finalists Arsenal and PSG in Europe.
Lots of resiliance
That was partly due to the forwards but also achieved by the whole team which almost always found a way back when opponents exposed the risky high pressing game plan by coach Vincent Kompany.
Bayern won from 3-0 down at half-time in Mainz, from 2-0 down in the 81st minute in Freiburg and drew 1-1 with nine men at 2024 champions Bayer Leverkusen, to name just three games.
Bayern also struggled in the first half on Saturday against an aggressive Stuttgart side before easing to victory.
“We’ve had games all season where we had to overcome adversity, where we were behind or a man down. We had to grind our way through, but from the end of the first half we showed our quality,” Eberl said.
Kompany said: “This team always manages to up their level.”
Now World Cup
Despite missing the Champions League final the season isn’t over for most Bayern players as they join their national teams for the World Cup – with especially England hoping that Kane can make the difference and help them win for the first time since 1966.
“I can’t wait for this World Cup, I’m ready to go. Right now I’m as good as it gets. That’s the goal, to win another golden trophy and we know what it would mean to everyone in England,” Kane said.
Kane talks and next squad
Bayern’s sporting leadership will meanwhile work on the squad for 2026-27, with Newcastle United midfielder Anthony Gordon reportedly their top target.
Germany midfielder Leon Goretzka is leaving after eight years, and so is versatile Raphael Guerreiro and loanee forward Nicolas Jackson. The future of injury-prone full back Alphonso Davies and centre back Kim Minjae is reportedly unclear.
Kane and Olise have been declared absolutely not for sale. Talks with Kane, who has a deal until 2027, are set to start soon and Bayern honorary president Uli Hoeness said that “both parties are happy with each other.”
But overall, Bayern want more youth and lower wages and in this respect will set high hopes in teenager Lennart Karl who had a breakthrough season taking him all the way to the World Cup, and in fellow-midfielder Tom Bischof.
Jonas Urbig, who also played on Saturday, has proved to be a more than solid back-up for veteran Manuel Neuer in goal.
The World Cup will cut pre-season training short before Bayern start the new campaign on August 22 against Borussia Dortmund. The Bundesliga kicks off a week later.