Bayern Munich’s 2-0 DFB-Pokal semifinal victory over Bayer Leverkusen saw a nervous end as the Bavarians sat back, protecting their slender one goal advantage while Leverkusen hogged the ball and kept it for large stretches in the Bundesliga champion’s half, all before Luis Díaz finally sealed the victory in added time.

But before that last phase of the match, Bayern had totally outclassed their national rivals. They dominated the shot count, possession stats, duels won and more as they peppered the Leverkusen goal. If it were not for opposition goalkeeper Mark Flekken, the Bavarians could have been miles ahead by half time.

That is what Leverkusen’s managing director of sport, Simon Rolfes had real issues with (as captured by Bayern’s official website).

“They deserved to win, no question, but we could’ve made it harder for them. We had a period in the second half – just after the break – in which we did better and engaged them in more duels. That also unsettled them a bit. We didn’t do that enough, though, so the win is deserved,” said Rolfes.

When the critique is that most of everything is missing outside of one period in the second half, one can infer the team did not do well. Nor did they. Two years after they totally dominated German football, they can now only watch as Bayern travel to Berlin to do the same this year.

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