Bayer Leverkusen did not lose a single match this season in which Lukas Hradecky saved the team with a goal. Kaiserslautern fell in the final of the German Cup.
Bayer Leverkusen celebrates winning the German Cup. Final against Kaiserslautern with numbers 0–1 (0–1). Leverkusen and Huuhkajie captain Lukas Hradecky saved with a goal of the champions.
The victory secured the first double championship in the club’s history, as Leverkusen previously also won the Bundesliga. Leverkusen lost only one game in the entire season – Tuesday’s Europa League final.
Saturday’s Cup final started with a bang when Granit Xhaka shot from a distance to give Leverkusen the lead in the 16th minute.
However, there was drama at the end of the opening period when Leverkusen Odilon Kossounou broke worthy of a red card. Leverkusen thus had to play the end of the match undermanned.
The second period was interrupted for a moment when the referee decided to wait for the smoke screen caused by the huge sea of torches in the audience to clear. At the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, a full house, i.e. more than 74,000 spectators, was excited for the match.
On the hour mark, Kaiserslautern came close to equalizing with a dangerous long shot. However, Hradecky stretched wonderfully in the path of the ball.
Towards the end of the period, Leverkusen almost took control of the match even more strongly. The team thus deservedly got to celebrate a convincing victory.
Leverkusen has previously won the German Cup once in the 1992–1993 season.
Invincible Hradecky and history-making Alonso
In Tuesday’s Europa League game, Leverkusen’s goal saw the player who had been responsible for the save in all cup competitions until Saturday Matej Kovar. Thus, Leverkusen did not lose a single match during the season in which Hradecky appeared between the posts.
About the head coach of Leverkusen About Xabi Alonso became the third person in Bundesliga history who has been able to win the double championship as both a player and a coach.
However, Alonso’s trick is exceptional because Niko Kovac and Hansi Flick won their double in the ranks of Bayern Munich. As a player, Alonso achieved the double in the 2015-2016 season in Bayern’s shirt, but as a coach, he did the trick as the boss of Leverkusen.