Thanks to a 2-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern Munich reached a third consecutive DFB-Pokal final.
It was Robert Lewandowski’s winner that set up a clash with Bayer Leverkusen 16 minutes from the time.
After first seeing their standards slip, Hansi Flick’s men were made to work for victory in the second half but their superior individual quality eventually shone through as Lewandowski netted his 45th goal of the season.
From the start, Bayern, and Muller, in particular, looked in the mood to play, and Frankfurt were fortunate with a few early escapes.
Ivan Perisic then put Bayern in front with less than a quarter of an hour played by nodding in an inch-perfect pass from the excellent Thomas Muller and they would have coasted for a half-time victory, with many chances spurned by the defending champions.
In the 14th minute, Bayern took the lead, with Muller meeting Perisic’s delicate pass with a diving header.
Muller met a corner by Joshua Kimmich with a glancing header. Dominik Kohr cleared the ball off the line before the in-form forward played the ball across Lewandowski’s goal face and saw it go straight through the legs of the Pole.
Chances continued to fall to the hosts, but two presentable opportunities were spurned by Kingsley Coman, and just past the half-hour mark, Lewandowski too missed again.
Frankfurt seemed to have capitalized on a deserved equalizer with the strike by Danny da Costa.
But Costa’s goal restored equilibrium for just five minutes – Lewandowski finishing off an incisive move to book Bayern’s passage to another final.
After the break, Bayern struggled to lift their game to a similar point.
Meanwhile, with strong chances of drying up and with 21 minutes remaining, Frankfurt again took advantage.
Daichi Kamada turned into space in the box and his scuffed pass fell kindly to fellow replacer Da Costa, who emphatically slotted home for his second goal of the match.
But Bayern soon came back in front again. Lewandowski steered in from close range with a well-worked move, after a VAR check for a potential offside in the build-up initially delayed their celebrations.
