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The midfield general in the mighty Bayern machine won the ball in the centre circle and bundled in after exchanging passes with Robert Lewandowski for the 82nd-minute clincher.

Corentin Tolisso and Thomas Muller had earlier put Bayern 2-0 in front, but Julian Brandt and Erling Haaland brought Dortmund back to level terms.

Victory meant Bayern, whose 32-game unbeaten run ended with defeat at the weekend to Hoffenheim, delivered more success in the Hansi Flick era.

Holders Bayern, who defeated RB Leipzig 3-0 in last season's final, were due to host Frankfurt on either April 21 or 22, while Leverkusen were scheduled to visit fourth-tier side Saarbrucken.

However, it was confirmed on Friday that both matches will not take place on the planned dates due to the continued threat of COVID-19.

The Bundesliga has been suspended since March 13 and is on hold until April 30 at the earliest.

There have been 49,344 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Germany, with 321 people having died.

Scheduled to take place at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on May 23, the game was officially postponed on Friday.

Bayern Munich are due to host Eintracht Frankfurt and FC Saarbrucken are scheduled to take on Bayer Leverkusen in the semi-finals.

In a statement, German Football Association (DFB) president Fritz Keller said: "The DFB-Pokal final, in particular, as the glamorous final and highlight of every season, lives from the unique atmosphere in the stadium and from the flair in Berlin and both are decisively shaped by the fans.

"It is unfortunate that this particular game is also expected to take place without a spectator in the stadium, although of course we must first wait for the general official decisions and requirements."

The DFB said it was still aiming to complete its seasons by June 30.

The Bundesliga is set to resume on May 9 in Germany, which has seen more than 5,700 deaths due to COVID-19.

Thiago is contracted until the end of 2020-21 but the Spain international is reportedly on the verge of leaving for Premier League champions Liverpool as Bayern brace for his exit.

The 29-year-old came off the bench with three minutes remaining in Bayern's 4-2 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in Saturday's DFB-Pokal final.

However, Flick has not given up on keeping star Thiago – who arrived from Barcelona in 2013 and has since won seven successive Bundesliga crowns among other honours.

"The thing is, I always have hope. I'm actually always very positive about things," Flick told reporters following the Berlin triumph.

"I also know, of course, that when you're at a certain age and you've already played in the Spanish league with Barcelona and in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, you feel the need to experience another big league. That is quite normal and that is also human.

"I'm trying my best to make sure Thiago stays here and that you can convince him to stay. But that's one thing that time will show.

"We still have the Champions League ahead of us now and we have a lot of plans, also together with him."

Flick was also asked about Bayern's transfer plans after prising Germany international Leroy Sane from Manchester City.

Bayern have been linked to Leverkusen star Kai Havertz, who scored a late consolidation goal on Saturday.

"We all know that of course the time with coronavirus has changed a lot," Flick added. "This means that many clubs, including FC Bayern Munich, can no longer spend money so easily. That's why we have to proceed cautiously.

"For now, Leroy Sane's commitment was important for the club and also for the team, which are taking the next step. Hasan Salihamidzic did a very good job of staying on the ball. I think a lot is developing and we have to see that we are a bit more broadly based."

Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel was not tempted to unleash Kane – who thumped a hat-trick in Saturday’s 7-0 Bundesliga win over Bochum – as three first-half goals proved more than enough for his side.

Languishing in 15th place in the German third tier, Munster nevertheless looked up for the fight and generated such a pre-match atmosphere that the kick-off was slightly delayed to allow firework smoke to clear.

But inevitably it was Bayern who proved to be the more explosive side on the pitch and it took them just eight minutes to grab the lead through Eric Choupo-Moting.

Mathys Tel’s persistence down the left flank paid off as he delivered a cross which the Cameroonian met with a twisting shot past home keeper Johannes Schenk.

It was not all good news in the early stages for Bayern, for whom Serge Gnabry was forced off shortly after the opener after appearing to fall awkwardly in an earlier challenge.

Jamal Musiala was playing havoc with the home defence but Schenk proved equal to number of Bayern chances, denying Choupo-Moting a second from close range in the 24th minute.

And Schenk saved his best for the 36th minute when he produced a brilliant save to deny a powerful header from Leon Goretzka as Bayern continued to threaten.

The visitors’ seemingly inevitable second duly arrived six minutes before the break when Goretzka turned provider, setting up Konrad Laimer for a looping header that beat the keeper.

Homegrown 20-year-old Frans Kratzig grabbed his first competitive goal for Bayern in first-half stoppage time with a neat effort through Schenk’s legs to make it 3-0.

Schenk denied Tel before Munster got a rare sight of the Bayern goal when Niko Koulis headed a half-chance well over the bar.

Although not tempted to unleash Kane on the Munster defence, Bayern boss took the opportunity to make a number of chances with his side easing through to the next round.

They continued to create a series of chances with Musiala jinking through the home rearguard before firing wide, and Choupo-Moting scuffing his chance to claim a second of the night in the Munster box.

The hosts came closest to getting on the scoresheet with 10 minutes remaining when lively substitute Joel Grodowski burst through the Bayern lines but his shot was comfortably dealt with by visiting keeper Daniel Peretz.

Teenager Tel deservedly got on the scoresheet five minutes from time when he fired home from a tight angle after being played through by Bouna Sarr, and Kingsley Coman crashed a shot against the bar as Bayern refused to ease up.

From a relegation battle with Mainz in the German second division to the heights of Champions League glory with Liverpool, Klopp has achieved more than anyone expected of a man whose playing career was distinctly modest.

It would be stretching it to say the signs were there from day one, but they were certainly there from day two.

Klopp was named as an interim replacement for Eckhard Krautzun when Mainz decided on a change of leader on February 27, 2001.

One day later, Klopp made his debut as a coach in the second tier of the Bundesliga. He had been a player in the team until that point, but this marked the beginning of a new chapter.

Club president Harald Strutz, quoted in the Rheinische Post at the time, voiced the suggestion the interim boss could stake a claim for the full-time job.

"Maybe that will be a permanent solution," Strutz said, presciently.

Midfielder Christof Babatz, who would be a significant figure in Mainz's rise to the Bundesliga under Klopp, then said after the first game resulted in a 1-0 win over Duisburg: "The coach teased that certain something out of us."

And so began the story of Klopp's touchline career, one centred on teasing out the very best from the talent at his disposal, nurturing prospects into polished performers, and tallying trophies along the way. From Mainz, to Borussia Dortmund, and eventually to Liverpool, Klopp has delivered on that initial leap of faith.

There have been league titles, cup triumphs and big European final nights with Liverpool and Dortmund, plus promotion and even a relegation during his formative Mainz days.

Here, Stats Perform looks at those first 999 games, as Opta data shows some essential numbers behind one of the 21st century's great coaching careers.

Pep, Howe, Hecking and Magath – Klopp's rivalries

Klopp has faced Pep Guardiola more than any other rival manager, going head-to-head with the Catalan 27 times across their careers.

There have been notable defeats along the way, including the 2014 DFB-Pokal final, when Klopp's Dortmund went down 2-0 to Guardiola's Bayern, and the 5-0 and 4-0 thrashings meted out by Manchester City to Liverpool in September 2017 and July 2020, both of which rank among the top nine heaviest defeats Klopp has had to stomach.

However, Klopp has the overall upper hand across their meetings, winning 11, drawing seven and losing nine of those games.

He has faced only one other boss more than 20 times: German Dieter Hecking, against whom Klopp pitted his wits 21 times, winning 11, drawing five and losing five. Hecking bossed Lubeck, Alemannia Aachen, Hannover, Nurnberg and Wolfsburg during Klopp's time in the German leagues.

Klopp certainly has a happy record against Newcastle United's former Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe, achieving 11 wins from their 13 meetings.

This shows the most wins Klopp has had against any boss is 11, against Guardiola, Hecking and Howe, while it can be revealed the team he has beaten the most are Freiburg (13 times), followed by Crystal Palace, Nurnberg and Arsenal (all 12).

His real nemesis appears to have been Felix Magath, the former Stuttgart, Bayern, Wolfsburg and Schalke coach. In 14 games against Magath teams, Klopp won only three times, losing eight.

Bayern have had the most wins against Klopp, with 16. No other team have reached double figures, with Hamburg, Schalke and Wolfsburg (all nine) next on the list.

The milestones, the biggest and the best... and the games he'd rather forget

Klopp won that first match of his career against Duisburg, and to date he has never lost on each 100th game on his way towards 1,000 as a boss.

There have been wins against the way against Bochum (200th game), Werder Bremen (300th), his old club Mainz (400th), Freiburg (500th) and Southampton (600th), and draws on his 700th, 800th and 900th games, against Newcastle, Chelsea and Real Madrid, respectively. Klopp's 100th game was also a draw, against Unterhaching with Mainz.

His biggest win was the 9-0 trouncing that Liverpool dished out to Bournemouth in August of this season, and his Liverpool team have also hit seven in a game five times (Maribor, Spartak Moscow, Crystal Palace, Lincoln City and Rangers), while his biggest win as a boss in Germany was Dortmund's 6-0 crushing of Arminia Bielefeld in May 2009.

Klopp has suffered four defeats by five-goal margins, the worst he has had to endure, with Aston Villa inflicting two of those: 7-2 in October 2020 and 5-0 in December 2019 – albeit the latter with Klopp and his frontline Liverpool stars out of the country on Club World Cup duty. There was also a 6-1 torching for Mainz at the hands of Werder Bremen in October 2006, and Liverpool's 5-0 whipping by Guardiola's City.

When it comes to promoting young talent, Klopp has rarely hesitated. His youngest player was Harvey Elliott, now a first-team squad regular at Liverpool, who faced MK Dons in the EFL Cup at the age of 16 years and 174 days in September 2019.

Klopp has fielded five 16-year-olds for Liverpool, plus seven 17-year-olds, while he also gave chances to the 17-year-old Mario Gotze at Dortmund, and Mario Vrancic, also 17, during his time at Mainz. Gotze went on to become a World Cup final match-winner.

His oldest player was Peter Neustadter, a Kazakh defender who was older than Klopp himself, aged 37 years and 176 days, when he turned out for Mainz against Alemannia Aachen in the Bundesliga's second tier in August 2003.

Warhorse midfielder James Milner could yet break that record as the oldest Liverpool player to have appeared for Klopp, aged 37 years and 13 days when he played in the recent FA Cup replay win against Wolves this week.

James Woodburn remains the youngest scorer for Klopp after hitting the net against Leeds in an EFL Cup clash in November 2016 at the age of 17 years and 45 days, while Sebastian Kehl ranks as his oldest scorer – 35 years and 53 days old when he bagged for Dortmund against Hoffenheim in a DFB-Pokal quarter-final in April 2015.

Klopp's kingpins

Roberto Firmino has played more games for Klopp than anyone, racking up 341 outings for Liverpool under the manager, with Milner (301) next on the list.

When it comes to starters, though, we get a different picture, with former Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller top of the list with 280 games, followed by another BVB stalwart, Neven Subotic (278), and then Firmino (277 starts). Milner is a long way down that list, with 112 of the veteran's appearances for Klopp having come as a substitute.

Mohamed Salah has made 282 appearances and 261 starts for Klopp, and when it comes to scorers for the Reds manager, the brilliant Egyptian is the untouchable number one.

His 173 goals put him streets ahead of Klopp's next highest scorer, Sadio Mane (120), with Firmino (107) and former Dortmund supreme finisher Robert Lewandowski (103) being the only other players to reach three figures.

Among players with 10 or more goals for Klopp teams, Salah has also scored at the fastest rate, netting once every 133 minutes, with Lewandowski in a tie for second place with Darwin Nunez, both scoring at one per 139 minutes. Nunez scrapes onto the list, having scored 10 times so far.

Lewandowski hit four hat-tricks for Klopp's Dortmund, while Salah has managed five for Liverpool under the German.

Both men once hit four in a game for Klopp, with Lewandowski doing so in a Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid, and Salah in a Premier League match against Watford.

The manager teased plenty out of those two down the years, and Klopp will doubtless look to Salah, a former Chelsea player, to ensure his 1,000th game brings cause for celebration.

Julian Nagelsmann's side are just a point clear at the Bundesliga summit after three successive 1-1 draws, but they ended their winless run with a dominant showing at MEWA Arena on Wednesday.

Manchester City loanee Joao Cancelo assisted Choupo-Moting's opener just 17 minutes into his debut, before the striker teed up Leroy Sane on the stroke of half-time after Jamal Musiala's 30th-minute strike.

Substitute Alphonso Davies sealed the victory in the second half prior to Alexander Hack being dismissed late on, as Bayern picked up a first win of 2023 to remain on course for a first DFB-Pokal triumph since 2020.

Mainz did not heed the early warning signs against a dominant Bayern and were punished as Choupo-Moting expertly volleyed Cancelo's right-wing centre past Finn Dahmen at the far post.

Musiala doubled the visitors' advantage with a pinpoint left-footed finish into the bottom-right corner after Thomas Muller's delicate pass.

Joshua Kimmich then curled a free-kick from a tight angle against the left post, before Sane calmly finished from Choupo-Moting's throughball as a rampant Bayern ran riot in the first half.

Hack cleared Muller's deflected attempt off the line after the interval, while Anthony Caci whipped a rare Mainz chance narrowly wide at the other end.

Davies nodded Kimmich's right-wing cross past Dahmen for Bayern's fourth, before Hack was shown a second yellow card for a needless foul on Musiala as Bayern eased to victory.

Handed his Bayern bow as the European champions’ international stars sat out the DFB-Pokal first-round tie with Duren, Choupo-Moting scored twice in a 3-0 win on Thursday and earned the penalty for Muller to net the other goal.

The striker, who played for Paris Saint-Germain against Bayern in last season's Champions League final, signed for the treble winners on transfer deadline day.

Muller has already been impressed by his impact on and off the pitch, telling SPORT1: "[Choupo-Moting] brings the wit, he also makes jokes off the pitch.

"He fits in well with our style of play because he is also technically good with the ball. If he maintains this strike rate, he'll fit."

Choupo-Moting served as support to Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Mauro Icardi and Edinson Cavani at PSG.

Bayern do not quite have the same wealth of striking options, but the 31-year-old still finds himself behind Lewandowski, Europe's leading scorer last season.

Choupo-Moting is happy enough with that role, though, explaining: "I have huge respect for Lewy, who was deservedly voted the best striker of last season.

"If I get my minutes after him, that's okay, and if we play together, then all the better. I'll try to play as much as possible."

Of his debut, Choupo-Moting added: "We did well and I'm happy that we won the game and that I was able to score my first goals for Bayern.

"I feel 100 per cent Bayern Munich. I hope that there will be a little more power over time - that's what I work on in training and I'm up for it."

The award – given to the best under-21 player in the world – went to a Barcelona midfielder for the second year in a row, as Gavi replicated Pedri's 2021 success. 

Bundesliga duo Musiala and Bellingham were both in contention for the prize, finishing third and fourth in the voting respectively, with Real Madrid's Eduardo Camavinga coming second.

Asked about Musiala's failure to land the award ahead of Bayern's trip to Augsburg in the DFB-Pokal, Nagelsmann said: "You wear club glasses. 

"In my eyes, both Jamal Musiala and Jude Bellingham have had better seasons than the winner. Gavi is an outstanding player, and I'm happy for him too."

No Bayern player has bettered Musiala's return of five league goals this season (level with Sadio Mane and Leroy Sane).

Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund midfielder Bellingham last week followed Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland as just the third teenager to score in four consecutive Champions League appearances.

Attention for Bayern now turns to the DFB-Pokal, which they last won in 2020.

Their bid to go beyond the second round this season could be hamstrung by the absence of Manuel Neuer, but Nagelsmann is not prepared to take any risks with his shoulder injury.

"It's not a conscious pause. Anything in the shoulder area is unfavourable for a goalkeeper," the coach explained. "If you have a sharp pain, you can't react. 

"He has pain when moving and is therefore restricted. As a goalkeeper, it's impossible to get 100 per cent performance then, so it doesn't make sense [to play Neuer]. It would be easier with an outfield player.

"We do everything in the necessary care for the players. We try everything to prevent this and consult all possible values. The rhythm is what it is. It's annoying when players are out and injured."

Nagelsmann also offered an update on the condition of Lucas Hernandez, who he hopes will recover from a muscle tear before the World Cup begins next month.

"It's looking better. We're making a bit more of him," Nagelsmann said of the defender. "We have to be patient. I can't say how long it will take. 

"It hasn't been looking too good lately. He's making progress, but it's a tough injury. I hope he can play at the World Cup."

By the end of June, Lewandowski's goals had propelled Bayern Munich to a Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double. His goals in the league (34 in total) made him the highest single-season foreign goalscorer in history. With another six goals in the Pokal – including two in the final to seal the deal in a 4-2 win against Bayer Leverkusen – and 11 more in the Champions League, Lewandowski has scored more goals in all competitions than any other player across Europe's top five leagues this season. 

For Lewandowski, it has been undoubtedly the best season of his career. Remarkably, the 31-year-old is averaging a goal every 74 minutes and he has already scored 11 more than last year and eight more than in his previous personal best (43 goals in 2016-17).

The consistency of Lewandowski's production is phenomenal. Since 2015-16, he has scored 40 or more goals in every season. The only player who has kept pace with the Pole is a certain Lionel Messi, but the Barcelona star will need to score an unlikely 10 more times to hit the 40-goal milestone in 2019-20.

In his 285 competitive games for Bayern, Lewandowski has hit a total of 242 goals, averaging a goal every 99 minutes. This is a goalscoring machine at its best.

Lewandowski has taken his game to another level this season. After being the top scorer in the Bundesliga (34) and in the Pokal (6), the Bayern marksman is also the leading scorer in the Champions League (11). He could become the first player since Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2002-03 to take home a hat-trick of golden boots in league, cup and European action. Neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor Lionel Messi have ever achieved this.

So, what's his secret?

ELITE IN THE BOX

Since joining Bayern back in 2014, Lewandowski has increased his expected goals (xG) total each season. This campaign, he is averaging a staggering 1.1 xG every 90 minutes. Put simply, the chances Lewandowski attempts are worth over one goal every game. This figure is nearly double as many as in his first season at Bayern (0.6). His consistently high xG values show that his impressive goal tally is not just a product of overperforming, but rather the result of generating good goalscoring opportunities.

Year after year, Lewandowski gets himself in better goalscoring positions. He has perfected the art of creating space and chances for himself in crucial areas of the pitch. The below graphic illustrates this perfectly: look at the cluster of shots he has taken in this season's Champions League.

In the current Champions League campaign, no player has scored as many non-penalty goals (10) or taken shots from higher quality chances (8.6 xG) as Lewandowski. As the size of the dots shows, Lewandowski is mainly taking shots from good-quality locations with a high xG value and avoids shooting from further afield.

THE COMPLETE FORWARD

Lewandowski is the target man in Bayern's attack, but he is far more than a poacher – he is a crucial cog in their build-up play.

In the 2019-20 Bundesliga campaign, Lewandowski was involved in a league-high 43 open-play sequences that ended with a goal. If we remove those sequences in which Lewandowski himself scored (27), he was involved in 16 open-play sequences that ended in a goal scored by one of his team-mates, the highest value among all strikers in the competition.

Indeed, while Lewandowski has registered only four assists in the latest Bundesliga season, we can use expected assists (xA) to analyse how many assists Lewandowski shouldhave had based on the quality of his passes. According to this metric, Lewandowski's open-play passes in the recent league season were worth seven assists, so he was unfortunate not to have three more assists to add to his total of four.

His total of 7.1 xA this campaign is his highest tally.  The 31-year-old has massively improved his creative abilities over the past two years, nearly increasing his xA value threefold (he registered 2.8 xA in 2017-18).

A complete forward, Lewandowski works for the team, creates chances for his team-mates and is heavily involved in build-up play. Bayern's last Champions League game in the first leg of their round-of-16 tie with Chelsea can be used as an ideal example of Lewandowski's all-around qualities. He was everywhere.

Lewandowski's touches at Stamford Bridge on February 25 (from left to right)

In that game, Lewandowski recorded two assists in a single Champions League match for the first time in his career, assisting the first two Bayern goals for Serge Gnabry before scoring the last himself to seal a 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge. 

Perhaps 2020 would have been Lewandowski's best chance to become just the second player other than Messi and Ronaldo to win the Ballon d'Or since 2008, but the way his game is improving every season – coupled with the inevitable decline of Messi and Ronaldo – means the Poland goalscoring machine will likely have another crack at the accolade in 2021 and beyond.

Their quarter-final tie against Borussia Monchengladbach at the Ludwigsparkstadion was postponed before kick-off in February due to rainfall and more recently their game against Rot-Weiss Essen on Easter Sunday was cancelled by the DFB due to concern about the pitch’s playability for the semi-final.

Third-tier Saarbrucken are aiming to continue their incredible run in the competition on Tuesday against Bundesliga 2 side Kaiserslautern and Ziehl insisted the pitch will be ready for the tie.

“If things don’t get extreme, the pitch has a playable surface. Then it will work that we can play. I was surprised that the pitch was in good condition,” said Ziehl in quotes reported by Zeit Online.

“The pitch looked good on Saturday morning, especially the critical areas from the Gladbach game. It was a smart decision to put the tarpaulin on again yesterday.”

Saarbrucken are 11th in the 3 Liga table and have had an extraordinary run in the cup this year, claiming some huge Bundesliga scalps on their way to reaching the final four of the competition.

In the second round they beat reigning Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich 2-1 thanks to Marcel Gaus’ stoppage-time strike before earning a 2-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the following round.

Their rescheduled quarter-final against Monchengladbach saw them snatch victory with another late goal, this time from Kai Brunker in the third minute of added time.

Kaiserslautern’s route to the final four included a 3-2 win against top-flight opponents Cologne in the second round before securing victories over Bundesliga 2 rivals FC Nuremberg and Hertha BSC.

The final takes place at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on May 25 and Kaiserslautern boss Friedhelm Funkel admits the competition has been a “great experience”.

“I associate the cup and Berlin with a feeling of happiness,” said Funkel in quotes posted on the official Kaiserslautern X account.

“This is an incredibly great experience. There is a tension, a tingling feeling that is very special. I would like to experience that again, but Saarbrucken also wants to go to Berlin.”

Bayern have picked up where they left off in the Bundesliga since the league restarted following a two-month pause due to the coronavirus pandemic, winning all four games -including a 1-0 victory over title rivals Borussia Dortmund.

Hansi Flick's side sit 10 points clear of Dortmund at the top of the table, and will face Eintracht Frankfurt for a place in the DFB-Pokal final, while they look to be heading for the Champions League quarter-finals after beating Chelsea 3-0 in a one-sided first leg.

With Bayern holding such a large advantage in the Bundesliga, and holders Liverpool having been knocked out of the Champions League, Schweinsteiger thinks his former club have every chance of completing a treble.

"In a European comparison, it is a super team," Schweinsteiger told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. 

"They can win the Champions League, especially since Liverpool has already [been knocked out].

"In the DFB-Pokal you also have a home game against Frankfurt. Even if the home advantage is no longer so great without a spectator, you know your own pitch better."

Schweinsteiger, a treble-winner with Bayern in 2012-13, retired from football in 2019 after two seasons with the Chicago Fire in MLS.

The 35-year-old revealed he is considering a path into coaching, though for now he is content to analyse matches as a TV pundit.

"If something interesting comes up at some point that I enjoy, I'll think about it," he said. "But when I do something, I want to win and get something done.

"It suits me very well to analyse games, after a long career in which I was constantly asked to have more time for the family."