BERLIN (Reuters) – Bundesliga champs Bayern Munich kept their hopes of a treble alive after beating Bayer Leverkusen 4-2 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on Saturday to win the German Cup for the 20 th time.

David Alaba gave Bayern the lead with a totally free kick in the 16 th minute after Robert Lewandowski was fouled at the edge of the box, with the defender’s effort cruising over the wall and beating the outstretched arm of Lukas Hradecky in objective.

Bayern doubled the lead when Joshua Kimmich launched Serge Gnabry down the right channel and the winger’s uncontested shot nestled into the bottom corner for the 24- year-old’s 20 th goal of the season in all competitions.

Lewandowski made it 3-0 when he let fly a thunderous strike from range directly at Hradecky and the Finnish goalkeeper fumbled, allowing the ball to creep over the line to give the Polish striker his 50 th objective of the season.

Leverkusen opened their account 4 minutes later on when Sven Bender headed home at the far post from a corner kick but it was insufficient, too late as Lewandowski grabbed a second with a chip over the keeper in the 89 th minute.

There was late drama when VAR spotted a handball in package in interruption time to award Leverkusen a charge. Kai Havertz’s alleviation strike into the leading corner proved to be the last kick of the game as Bayern protected their title.