Bayern Munich Advances in DFB-Pokal with Strong Performance

Bayern Munich needed less than five minutes in Osnabrück to be reminded that the DFB-Pokal can still bite.

A slip from Jonathan Tah, a loose sequence with Kim Min-jae, Jonas Urbig caught high, and Robin Meißner thundering in a stunning strike from distance — suddenly the Bundesliga giants were 1-0 down, the stadium shaking, the tiefe tifo roaring, and the underdogs believing. Crazy opening. The kind that makes big clubs twitch.

The shock, though, never grew into a crisis. Bayern simply tightened their grip and squeezed.

Strong XI, little mercy

There was no experimental cup lineup here. Vincent Kompany (implicitly) went strong, and that alone spelled trouble for VfL Osnabrück. Kim started ahead of Dayot Upamecano, Josip Stanišić got the nod over Konrad Laimer, and Nathaniel Brown came in for Alphonso Davies at left-back. In midfield, Tom Bischof was preferred to Aleksandar Pavlović — a small decision on paper, a big one in the flow of the night.

Bischof seized it.

Osnabrück were brave, aggressive, and backed by a ferocious home crowd, but once Bayern settled, the gulf in quality became obvious. The hosts defended with heart, sometimes with desperation, and for a spell that was enough to frustrate Bayern’s rhythm.

Ismael Saibari, operating high up the pitch, struggled early to knit himself into the attacking patterns. The ideas were there, the aggression too, but the execution lagged. Mis-timed runs, half-yard hesitations. In a Bayern shirt, those details glare.

Kane flips the script

The pressure finally told in the 18th minute.

Joshua Kimmich clipped a teasing ball into the box toward Harry Kane, making a direct run. Osnabrück dealt with the first part, but only just — the headed clearance went straight up, not out. Kane waited, measured the drop, and smashed a volley past Jonas Krumrey. One chance, one ruthless finish. 1-1, and the noise inside the ground shifted from dream to dread.

Five minutes later, Bayern turned the game on its head.

Michael Olise, always searching for the killer angle, slid a perfectly weighted pass through to Luis Díaz. Krumrey saved Díaz’s effort, but the rebound fell to Bischof, who had followed the play with the kind of hunger that separates prospects from passengers. He buried it for 2-1. From there, Bischof became a constant irritant for Osnabrück — snapping into duels, covering ground, always available, always busy.

Bayern’s back line was less convincing. Tah looked rusty, his movement heavy, especially in lateral shifts. Kim, usually the calming presence, found himself dragged into the chaos. Their partnership needs time; on this evidence, it will get plenty of work on the training ground.

On the left, Brown delivered a mixed audition. Defensively, he was tidy and disciplined, rarely exposed. Going forward, the game simply ran away from his flank. The patterns didn’t quite open up for him, and his influence in the final third remained minimal before Davies replaced him. For now, the Brown–Davies battle at left-back is very real, but this match did little to tilt the argument decisively either way.

Just before the break, Krumrey produced a superb stop to deny Olise and keep the tie alive. Osnabrück went into halftime trailing, but not broken.

Slow burn after the break

The second half never caught fire.

Osnabrück kept fighting, snapping into tackles, refusing to let Bayern stroll. The visitors, facing an early-season English Week and carrying tired legs, began to drag. The tempo dipped. Passes slowed. What had looked like it might become a statement win drifted toward something more functional, more forgettable.

On 62 minutes, Brown and Saibari made way for Davies and Lennart Karl. The pattern of the game barely flickered. Bayern controlled, Osnabrück chased, but the final pass, the decisive movement, kept arriving half a beat too late.

Then Olise decided he’d had enough of the lull.

Now operating centrally as the attacking midfielder after Saibari’s withdrawal, he pounced in the 73rd minute. A sharp touch, a bit of upper-body strength — his elbow played a part in how he controlled the ball, and under VAR scrutiny it almost certainly would have been chalked off — and a composed finish. The referee’s whistle stood. So did the goal. 3-1, and any lingering tension evaporated.

With that, Bayern finally shook off their second-half malaise. The ball moved quicker, the lines stretched, and Osnabrück’s resistance thinned.

Kane closes it out

By the 84th minute, the tie was done, but Bayern still had one more blow to land.

Pavlović, on as a substitute, drove into the box and was brought down. The referee pointed to the spot. Kane stepped up, ice-cold as ever, and rolled in his second of the night. 4-1. No fuss, no doubt.

The final minutes played out at testimonial pace. Bayern kept the ball, Osnabrück kept their pride, and the scoreboard stayed still. For the neutral, the second half underwhelmed. For Bayern, it was a job handled with just enough authority, just enough quality, and a reminder that even routine wins can carry small warning signs.

Tah’s sharpness. The chemistry at the back. The question of who truly owns that left flank between Brown and Davies. None of it demands panic in early September, but none of it can be ignored either.

Still, this is the DFB-Pokal: survive, advance, move on. Bayern did all three.

The next test comes at the weekend against Schalke 04, where the expectation will not just be victory, but a performance that looks less like a grind and more like the polished, ruthless machine this squad believes it can become.