BERLIN (Reuters) – Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen battled past second division Kaiserslautern 1-0 on Saturday to win the German Cup and secure the club’s first ever domestic double.
Leverkusen missed out on a treble after losing 3-0 to Atalanta in the Europa League final on Wednesday in their first defeat of the season after a European record 51-game unbeaten run.
In Berlin’s Olympic stadium that will host the Euro 2024 final in July, Leverkusen took the lead with Granit Xhaka’s 20-metre missile in the 16th minute.
They controlled the pace even after they were reduced to 10 men following Odilon Kossounou’s second booking a minute before halftime.
Kaiserslautern rarely threatened after the break with Leverkusen comfortably holding on to cap a memorable season with a second trophy.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Toby Davis)
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