Schalke won the German Cup for the fifth time in the club’s history on Saturday, blowing Duisburg off the pitch in a 5-0 rout and marking the cup’s largest margin of victory in nearly 40 years.

The last time a team won that convincingly was in 1972 when Schalke defeated Kaiserslautern 5-0. The Ruhr Valley club is now qualified for the Europa League, while Duisburg, plagued by a string of injuries, again failed to win the German Cup in its fourth try at glory.

Former Bayern Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn on Thursday criticised the Bavarian giants plan to capture Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer from Schalke 04.

Neuer, 25, has been heavily courted by Bayern and has already told Schalke, who contest the German Cup final on Saturday, he will not extend his contract which expires in 2012.

Bayern are reported to be set to spend around 20 million euros for the shot-stopper who has been in stellar form this season, but Kahn questions the logic of splashing out an enormous sum, when Neuer could come for free in 2012.

“They will hire a very good goalkeeper, but to pay such a sum for a player who will be free in 2012, is exorbitant,” Kahn told German daily Bild.

Kahn is now a TV commentator since retiring from football in 2008 and he slammed Bayern’s decision to employ Bayer Leverkusen’s 66-year-old coach Jupp Heynckes as trainer for next season.

“It’s not a lasting solution,” said Kahn. ”What is the thinking behind this? Where is the true philosophy? By what criteria are they recruiting players? Continuity in the coaching position is the basis for success. At times I wonder how the players fit together. The example of Barcelona…

Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness has revealed that the club have reached an agreement in principle for the transfer of Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

The 25-year-old has been constantly linked with a move to the Allianz Arena this term, but has also been the reported target of Manchester United.

Bayern, however, appear to have won the race for the German international, and have conceded a deal is in place.

Coach Joachim Löw has named Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Marco Reus as the only rookie in the German national squad for three upcoming international matches.

Germany face Uruguay in a friendly match in Hoffenheim at the end of the month before travelling to Vienna to face Austria and to Baku to play Azerbaijan in Euro 2012 qualifiers in the first week of June.

Reus is one of 23 players in Löw’s squad and the list also includes Simon Rolfes, returning after a long injury absence. However, there is still no sign of former team captain Michael Ballack.

With two games to spare, Borussia Dortmund secured the Bundesliga title by beating Nuremberg 2-0, thanks to the poor showing by their closest rivals, Bayer Leverkusen, who suffered an embarrassing 2-0 loss at the hands of struggling Cologne.

The final scores of those two games left Dortmund an unassailable eight points clear of Leverkusen with two matches left in the season, handing them their seventh title and first since 2002.