Thiago Alcantara (L) of Munich vies with Denis Zakaria of Moenchengladbach during the Telecom cup finals between FC Bayern Munich and Borussia Moenchengladbach in Duesseldorf, Germany, Jan. 13, 2019. Bayern Munich won 4-2 in penalty shootout. (Xinhua/Ulrich Hufnagel)
BERLIN, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Bayern Munich edged Borussia Monchengladbach 4-2 following the penalty shootouts at the final of the Telecom Cup on Sunday.
The German record champions won the mini preparation tournament for the fourth time as goalkeeper Sven Ulreich denied Patrick Herrmann before Denis Zakaria rattled the woodwork in the penalty shootouts.
Monchengladbach entered the final with a 1-0 win over Hertha Berlin, and Bayern Munich went through a penalty shootout to see off resilient Fortuna Dusseldorf 8-7 in the semifinals.
The "Foals" grabbed a lively start into the final as Patrick Herrmann came close to break the deadlock with four minutes played but the attacking midfielder pulled wide from the edge of the box.
Monchengladbach remained on the front foot and should have opened the scoring but Josip Drmic was unable to beat Bayern goalie Sven Ulreich from very close range in the 8th minute.
Bayern got their first chance with 14 minutes into the game as Sandro Wagner's header on target forced custodian Moritz Nicolas into action.
However, both sides were unable to break the deadlock and the game entered penalty shootouts directly.
Bayern's Wagner, Monchengladbach's Herrmann and Zakaria failed to score from the spot.
"We did not score once but we still won the tournament via the penalty shootouts. We have to improve our penetration and chance conversions ahead of the kickoff on Friday," Bayern head coach Nico Kovac said.
"I think we staged a good performance but penalty shootouts are always a matter of luck," Borussia Monchengladbach head coach Dieter Hecking said.
The Bundesliga will return from the winter break when runner-up Bayern Munich clash with Hoffenheim at the curtain raiser for the second half of the season on January 18.
