© FC Bayern
The FC Bayern Legends are the Beckenbauer Cup winners! At the unique Legends tournament, which was part of FC Bayern's 125th club anniversary celebrations, the German record champions' Legends team beat the Real Madrid Leyendas 4-0 in the final. The fans at the sold-out SAP Garden were treated to a fantastic evening of football entertainment featuring many former stars at the event in honour of the club's honorary president, who passed away last year. Read here how the tournament went.
Group A: Real secure first place
Giovane Élber and Co. qualified for the semi-finals in second place behind group winners Real Madrid Leyendas. | © Imago
The first goal of the tournament was scored by none other than Franck Ribéry, who put the Bayern legends ahead after three minutes in the first game. However, despite some good chances, the men from Munich were unable to add to their tally and the game ended in a draw after Ryan Babel grabbed an equaliser. In the second game of the group, Real Madrid celebrated a 3-1 win over Ajax despite trailing at one stage, and secured direct qualification for the semi-finals, with Rubén de la Red, Iván Pérez and Martín Vázquez scoring for the Spaniards. The second semi-finalists was decided in the final match between the FCB Legends and Real. In a fiercely contested affair, Thomas Linke's right boot put the home side 2-1 ahead at one stage and on course to win the group before Pepe had the last word by equalising to make it 2-2, which meant the Madrilenians went through to the semi-finals in first place and Bayern in second.
Group A – results
FC Bayern 1-1 Ajax
Goals: 1-0 Ribéry, 1-1 Babel
Real Madrid 3-1 Ajax
Goals: 0-1 Emanuelson, 1-1 de la Red, 2-1 Pérez, 3-1 Vásquez
FC Bayern 2-2 Real Madrid
Goals: 0-1 Arbeloa, 1-1 van Bommel, 2-1 Linke, 2-2 Pepe
Group B: Two German teams progress
Dortmund and Stuttgart secured their semi-final tickets in Group B. | © FC Bayern
After going 1-0 down, Borussia Dortmund fought back in their first match against VfB Stuttgart with goals from Ewerthon and Kevin Großkreutz to win 2-1 and go straight to the top of Group B. That put Stuttgart under pressure and they threw everything they had at AC Milan Glorie in their next match: goals from Christian Gentner, Andreas Hinkel, Christian Träsch and Cacau gave VfB a resounding 4-0 win. It meant BVB were also suddenly under pressure again, but they handled the situation with aplomb. Goals from Großkreutz (2), Dede (2) and Sven Bender handed the Black and Yellows a 5-0 win and they progressed to the knockout stage as group winners ahead of Stuttgart.
Group B – results
Borussia Dortmund 2-1 VfB Stuttgart
Goals: 0-1 Beck, 1-1 Ewerthon, 2-1 Großkreutz
VfB Stuttgart 4-0 AC Milan Glorie
Goals: 1-0 Gentner, 2-0 Hinkel, 3-0 Träsch, 4-0 Cacau
Borussia Dortmund 5-0 AC Milan Glorie
Goals: 1-0 Großkreutz, 2-0 S. Bender, 3-0 Dede, 4-0 Dede, 5-0 Großkreutz
Semi-finals: Real win, Mr Wembley celebrates his comeback
Arjen Robben scored the decisive goal in a hard-fought semi-final against Borussia Dortmund. | © Imago
Real Madrid and VfB Stuttgart faced off in the first semi-final. Los Blancos struck straight out of the blocks and were already 2-0 up after three minutes with goals from Christian Karembeu and Fernando Sanz. However, VfB refused to give up and fought their way back, and Gentner levelled the score at 3-3 with just over two minutes remaining. The game went to penalties, where Gentner's nerves ultimately failed him and Real won 3-1.
In the second semi-final, the fans at the SAP Garden were treated to Der Klassiker between Bayern and BVB. The game was hotly contested, with neither team giving anything away and it remained tense right to the end - meaning there was only one player who could decide the match. Mr Wembley, Arjen Robben, scored two minutes before the end to put Bayern 1-0 up, Contento added a second and the men from Munich progressed to their Finale dahoam (home final).
Semi-finals – results:
Real Madrid (3-3) 6-4 (Pens) VfB Stuttgart
Goals: 1-0 Karembeu, 2-0 Sanz, 2-1 Träsch, 3-1 Pepe, 3-2 Cacau, 3-3 Gentner.
Penalty shootout: de la Red, Arbeola und Pérez scored for Real, Gentner missed, Träsch scored for VfB.
Borussia Dortmund 0-2 FC Bayern
Goals: 0-1 Robben, 0-2 Contento
Finals: Bayern Legends win the tournament, Stuttgart secure 3rd place
Before the grand final, the FC Bayern and Real Madrid teams came together for a joint photo. | © FC Bayern
The 3rd place play-off saw Dortmund and Stuttgart face off in a Bundesliga clash, with VfB gaining revenge for their defeat to BVB in the group stage. Cacau put Stuttgart ahead before Kevin Großkreutz came up with the reply. In the dying seconds, however, Andreas Beck restored the lead for VfB, who were rewarded with a place on the podium.
Bayern got off to a dream start in their home final and took an early 2-0 lead with goals from Giovane Élber and Mark van Bommel. Shortly before the break, Real keeper Pedro Contreras was shown a yellow card after first handling the ball outside the penalty area and then committing a tactical foul shortly afterwards. His side should certainly have had to play the final two minutes with four men, but FCB proved to be good hosts and it was agreed that Real could continue with five players. This didn't alter the course of the game and Rafinha made it 3-0 shortly afterwards before Élber got his second goal. Victory was assured for the men from Munich in front of their own fans.
Finals – results:
3rd place play-off: VfB Stuttgart 2-1 Borussia Dortmund
Goals: 1-0 Cacau, 1-1 Großkreutz, 2-1 Beck
Final: Real Madrid 0-4 FC Bayern
Goals: 0-1 Élber, 0-2 van Bommel, 0-3 Rafinha, 0-4 Élber
Red card (second yellow): Contreras
Check out the best pictures from the tournament:
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