2003–04 season Giovane Élber transferred to Lyon, but Bayern Munich signed Dutch striker Roy Makaay which provided more competition between Santa Cruz and Claudio Pizarro for the 2003–04 Bundesliga season. He made his first appearance of the 2003–04 in round five in a 3–2 loss to VfL Wolfsburg on 13 September 2003. One week later, he scored his first goal of the season in a 3–3 draw against Bayer Leverkusen on 20 September 2003. Santa Cruz scored his first goal of the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League in a 1–1 draw against Anderlecht on 30 September. Bayern Munich reached the knock-out stages where they were eliminated against Real Madrid. He had made 29 league appearances, having surpassed the number of appearances he made during his first-season before facing injury. Bayern Munich eventually finished second of the Bundesliga table with 68 points, six points shy of Werder Bremen. Santa Cruz finished the season with nine goals in 41 matches. 2004–05 season Prior to the start of the 2004–05 season, Santa Cruz played a full 90-minute in Bayern Munich's 3–2 2004 DFB-Ligapokal final win against Werder Bremen on 2 August. His first appearance of the 2004–05 season came in round 1 in a 2–0 away win against Hamburger SV, he was replaced by Mehmet Scholl in the 60th minute. He featured in the following two matches, although due to an injury sustained, he made his fourth and final league appearance for the 2004–05 season on matchday 34 in a 3–1 away win against VfB Stuttgart on 21 May 2005; he was substituted onto the field for Bastian Schweinsteiger in the 77th minute. He did not participate in the 2004–05 Champions League, where Bayern Munich were eliminated by Chelsea during the quarter-final stages. Bayern were crowned champions of the 2004–05 Bundesliga season with 77 points, and qualified for the 2005–06 Champions League. The club also claimed the 2004–05 DFB-Pokal in a 2–1 win against Schalke 04 on 28 May 2005, although Santa Cruz did not take part in the match, where in his absence was striker Paolo Guerrero. Upon Santa Cruz's return from injury, he played the full 90 minutes of Bayern's 2–1 2005 DFL-Ligapokal semi-final defeat against VfB Stuttgart on 26 July. Santa Cruz finished the season with five goals in seven matches for the first team and two goals in five matches for the reserve team. 2005–06 season Santa Cruz started in