Treble-chasing Bayern into German Cup final

High-flying Bayern Munich kept alive its dreams of becoming Germany's first team to win the treble by booking its German Cup final berth with a 6-1 win at home over VfL Wolfsburg in Tuesday's semifinal.

Having already won this season's Bundesliga crown, Bayern is bidding to become the first German side to win the European Cup, cup and league titles as it faces Barcelona at home in the Champions League semifinal next Tuesday,

Bayern will discover its opponent for the Cup final, which takes place on June 1 at Berlin's Olympic Stadium, when Stuttgart hosts Freiburg in Wednesday's other all-Bundesliga semifinal.

Swiss midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri, in for suspended France winger Franck Ribery, impressed as he set up three of Bayern's goals for Mario Mandzukic, Arjen Robben and Mario Gomez, then scored one of his own.

"We definitely wanted to reach the final. It was hard to concentrate when all the talk has only been about Barcelona, but we had the game under control," said Shaqiri.

Gomez was the star of the night as he warmed up for Barcelona by coming off the bench to score three goals in six minutes to double Bayern's tally in the last 10 minutes.

"You could see that we have three top strikers, I'm really pleased for Mario that he managed a hat-trick," said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes, who would have been pleased to see his other strikers, Mandzukic and Claudio Pizarro, also in goal-scoring form.

(China Daily 04/18/2013 page23)