With Kane out with a thigh injury, Vincent Kompany deployed Jamal Musiala as the No.9 with Michael Olise slotted in the hole, right behind the Germany international. Bayern started the game in the ascendancy, however, it was Leverkusen who came close to breaking the deadlock in the 11th minute, when Florian Wirtz intercepted a misplaced pass from Dayot Upamecano and took a shot from the edge of the box only to miss the target.
Six minutes later, disaster struck the hosts as veteran goalkeeper Neuer collected his first red card of his career. The ex-Germany star came out of his line as Jeremie Frimpong approached the goal from a counter-attack. Neuer pounced on the Dutch full-back and in the process received his marching order. Kompany was forced to sacrifice Leroy Sane as Daniel Peretz came on as the replacement keeper.
The hosts' first major goalscoring opportunity came minutes after the half-hour mark Laimer entered the box after playing a quick one-two with Musiala, however, the full-back hit the sidenet. On the stroke of halftime, Leon Goretzka attempted to find the back of the net with a clinical header of a pinpoint free-kick from Joshua Kimmich, but Matej Kovar did well to parry the ball away from a close range.
The second half began in a cagey manner as the Bavarian side looked a bit cautious with a man down. The deadlock, though, finally broke in the 69th minute when substitute Tella converted a header from an inch-perfect cross from Alejandro Grimaldo.
Kompany went all out towards the end of the match as he introduced Serge Gnabry and Mathys Tel on the pitch in a bid to inject more firepower into the attack. In the end, though, it was Xabi Alonso's side, who had the last laugh. Kane watched his side bow out of the DFB-Pokal in agony as the England captain's trophy drought continued.