Bayer Leverkusen wins the German Cup and completes undefeated domestic double

BERLIN (AP) — Granit Xhaka’s early strike was enough for Bayer Leverkusen to win the German Cup final 1-0 over Kaiserslautern for an unbeaten domestic double on Saturday.

Xhaka fired the ball in under the crossbar from distance in the 16th minute. It proved to be enough against second-division Kaiserslautern despite losing defender Odilon Kossounou to a second yellow card just before the break.

Leverkusen won the Bundesliga unbeaten, an historic feat. The only blip on the record of Xabi Alonso’s team this season was losing the Europa League final to Atalanta 3-0 on Wednesday in Dublin. That ended Leverkusen’s record 51-game unbeaten run across all competitions. It was its only loss in 53 games this season.

“The whole journey, the whole season was wonderful,” the Spanish coach said after doubling Leverkusen's trophy haul in just one season. “What we did this season is unbelievable.”

Alonso and his players ran to their fans after the whistle on Saturday in Berlin's Olympiastadion. They had supported the team loudly throughout, though were drowned at times by the even more vociferous Kaiserslautern supporters.

They displayed a spectacular tifo of a red devil grasping the trophy in front of a hellish background of fire and brimstone before the game. Flares sending red smoke into the sky embellished the effect – and gave an inkling of what was to come.

The stadium announcer's repeated requests to stop the pyrotechnics were met with continued indifference. The second half began to a huge fireworks display from the Leverkusen fans.

Despite the smoke above, there was little fire on the field after a long hard season. Kossounou was booked for stopping Kenny Prince Redondo’s break in the third minute, then issued another yellow for a foul on Boris Tomiak in the 44th.

It didn't stop the Leverkusen machine from grinding out the win. Jeremie Frimpong should have made it 2-0 in the 75th after going past the goalkeeper.

It's Leverkusen's second German Cup title after beating Hertha Berlin's reserve team in the 1993 final. Leverkusen's other trophy is the 1988 UEFA Cup.

Kaiserslautern supporters cheer their team during the German Soccer Cup final match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Bayer Leverkusen at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Leverkusen fans lit flares during the German Soccer Cup final match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Bayer Leverkusen at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Kaiserslauter fans lit flares during the German Soccer Cup final match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Bayer Leverkusen at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Kaiserslauter fans lit flares during the German Soccer Cup final match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Bayer Leverkusen at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Kaiserslautern fans set off pyrotechnics during the German Soccer Cup final match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Bayer Leverkusen at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa via AP)

Leverkusen's Amine Adli, left, and Kaiserslautern's Boris Tomiak fight for the ball during the German Soccer Cup final match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Bayer Leverkusen at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (Federico Gambarini/dpa via AP)

Leverkusen's Granit Xhaka, center, celebrates with team mates after scoring his side's opening goal during the German Soccer Cup final match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Bayer Leverkusen at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Leverkusen's Granit Xhaka, right, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the German Soccer Cup final match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Bayer Leverkusen at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Leverkusen fans celebrate their team during the German Soccer Cup final match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Bayer Leverkusen at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Leverkusen's head coach Xabi Alonso, center, celebrates after the German Soccer Cup final match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Bayer Leverkusen at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Leverkusen's head coach Xabi Alonso lifts the trophy after the German Soccer Cup final match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Bayer Leverkusen at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Leverkusen's head coach Xabi Alonso throws the trophy after the German Soccer Cup final match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Bayer Leverkusen at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Leverkusen's goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky lifts the trophy after the German Soccer Cup final match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Bayer Leverkusen at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Leverkusen's head coach Xabi Alonso lifts the trophy after the German Soccer Cup final match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Bayer Leverkusen at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky holds up the trophy while his teammates celebrate winning the German Soccer Cup final match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Bayer Leverkusen at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (Federico Gambarini/dpa via AP)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive in North Korea on Tuesday for a two-day visit, his first in 24 years, both countries announced.

Putin is expected to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for talks focused on expanding military cooperation as they deepen their alignment in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with Washington.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Putin will pay a state visit on Tuesday and Wednesday at Kim's invitation. North Korean state media didn’t immediately provide details. Russia confirmed the visit in a simultaneous announcement.

The visit comes amid growing international concerns about an arms arrangement in which Pyongyang provides Moscow with badly needed munitions to fuel Putin’s war in Ukraine in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that would enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.

Military, economic and other cooperation between North Korea and Russia have sharply increased since Kim visited the Russian Far East in September for a meeting with Putin, their first since 2019.

U.S. and South Korean officials have accused the North of providing Russia with artillery, missiles and other military equipment to help prolong its fighting in Ukraine, possibly in return for key military technologies and aid. Both Pyongyang and Moscow have denied accusations about North Korean weapons transfers, which would be in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Any weapons trade with North Korea would be a violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions that Russia, a permanent U.N. Security Council member, previously endorsed.

Andrei Lankov, an expert on North Korea at Kookmin University in Seoul, noted that in exchange for providing artillery munitions and short-range ballistic missiles, Pyongyang hopes to get higher-end weapons from Moscow.

Lankov noted that while Russia could be reluctant to share its state-of-the-art military technologies with North Korea, it’s eager to receive munitions from Pyongyang. “There is never enough ammunition in a war, there is a great demand for them,” Lankov told The Associated Press.

Putin first visited Pyongyang in July 2000, months after his first election when he met with Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, who ruled the country then.

Moscow has said it “highly appreciates” Pyongyang’s support for Russia’s military action in Ukraine and mentioned its “close and fruitful cooperation” at the United Nations and other international organizations.

Russia, together with China, have repeatedly blocked the U.S. and its partners’ attempts to impose fresh U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its barrage of banned ballistic missile tests.

In March, a Russian veto at the United Nations ended monitoring of U.N. sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program, prompting Western accusations that Moscow is seeking to avoid scrutiny as it allegedly violates the sanctions to buy weapons from Pyongyang for use in Ukraine.

Earlier this year, Putin sent Kim a high-end Aurus Senat limousine, which he had shown to the North Korean leader when they met for a summit in September. Observers said the shipment violated a U.N. resolution aimed at pressuring the North to give up its nuclear weapons program by banning the supply of luxury items to North Korea.

Putin has continuously sought to rebuild ties with Pyongyang as part of his efforts to restore his country’s global clout and its Soviet-era alliances. Moscow’s ties with North Korea weakened after the 1991 Soviet collapse. Kim Jong Un first met with Putin in 2019 in Russia’s eastern port of Vladivostok.

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shake hands during their meeting at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia on Sept. 13, 2023. North Korean leader Kim hailed the country's relationship with Russia on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, as reports suggest that Russian President Putin will soon visit the isolated country for his third meeting with Kim.(Vladimir Smirnov/Sputnik Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un examine a launch pad of Soyuz rockets during their meeting at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. North Korean leader Kim hailed the country's relationship with Russia on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, as reports suggest that Russian President Putin will soon visit the isolated country for his third meeting with Kim.(Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)