Bayern Munich Wins German Super Cup

 

Carlo Ancelotti won his first silverware as Bayern Munich head coach as the Bavarians ended their four-year wait for victory in the German Super Cup by beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at the Westfalenstadion on Sunday.

Arturo Vidal and Thomas Muller scored the second-half goals to grant Ancelotti a winning start to life at Bayern, and earn the defending Bundesliga champions and DFB-Pokal winners the first trophy of the new season in Germany.

Dortmund enjoyed the better of the first half, but Bayern's dominance of German football over the past four years shone through after the break as they beat their hosts convincingly. Dortmund, bidding for a hat-trick of Super Cup wins over Bayern, made the brighter start and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang squandered a good early chance when he took advantage of a misunderstanding between Philipp Lahm and Mats Hummels to break through, but he waited too long to shoot and Javi Martinez recovered ground to make an important deflection.

Dortmund were appealing for a penalty in the 15th minute when Xabi Alonso struck the ball with his arm, but the referee waved away the home team's protests, led by Gonzalo Castro. Dortmund's new signing Ousmane Dembele had the hosts' next chance when he struck over from a good position, but the best chance of the half fell to Bayern in the 38th minute when Vidal's free header was saved well by Roman Burki and the Chilean turned the rebound over the crossbar from point-blank range. Dortmund continued to press in the second half and Felix Passlack tested Manuel Neuer early on before Bayern raised the tempo and opened the scoring in the 58th minute.

Vidal juxtaposed his position with Muller, creating space for another shot which Burki again saved, but this time he showed more composure with the rebound, placing it into the far corner. With 11 minutes to go, Bayern sealed victory when Muller lost his marker and latched onto Hummels' header from a corner, turning the ball in from close range.