German Super Cup: Bayern Munich win first title of the season

FC Bayern Munich beat archrivals Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the season opening German Super Cup at a sell-out Allianz Arena in Munich last night. It was Bayern's first win against Dortmund in two years, which the Bavarians hope will have a positive effect on their Bundesliga campaign this season.

Bayern made a quick start into the game as one could feel that they wanted to overcome their Dortmund curse as they had lost the last five encounter against BVB and also the Bundesliga title over the last couple of seasons.

Dortmund meanwhile made a slow start into the game and were 0-2 behind after only 11 minutes. First in the sixth minute newcomer Mario Mandzukic scored from a Franck Ribery cross to the utter surprise of Dortmund centre-backs Subotic and Hummels, while in the 11th minute a free Arjen Robben hit the post, but Thomas Müller was there to score acrobatically of the rebound.

The Bavarian giants were in control and especially in the first half hour showed what they could be capable off this season, but thereafter they slowed down as Dortmund surprisingly had no shot on target in the first 45 minutes.

After the break Dortmund came back into the match with more purpose as they had their first chances within the first 10 minutes after the restart as Bayern Munich tried to control things and went on the attack only once in a while, but one good Robben shot which Weidenfeller cleared brought real danger to the Dortmund goal.

As the match progressed it got more and more of a friendly character, but Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski reduced the deficit in the 75th minute and the Dortmund fans hoped for a late rally which didn't really come except a Schieber chance as Bayern Munich held on to their 2-1 lead and claimed their first trophy of the season.


MATCH STATS

FC Bayern Munich 2-1 (2-0) Borussia Dortmund - Goals: 1-0 Mario Mandzukic (6'), 2-0 Thomas Müller (11'), 2-1 Robert Lewandowski (75')

Bayern Munich
Manuel Neuer - Philipp Lahm, Jerome Boateng, Dante, Emre Can (70' Holger Badstuber) - Luis Gustavo, Toni Kroos - Arjen Robben (85' Xherdan Shaqiri), Thomas Müller, Franck Ribery (80' Anatoly Tymoshchuk) - Mario Mandzukic

Borussia Dortmund
Roman Weidenfeller - Lukasz Piszczek, Neven Subotic, Mats Hummels, Marcel Schmelzer - Ilkay Gündogan, Moritz Leitner (64' Mario Götze) - Jakob Blaszczykowski (71' Julian Schieber), Marco Reus, Kevin Grosskreutz (64' Ivan Perisic) - Robert Lewandowski

Referee
Michael Weiner

German Super Cup: Bayern Munich take on Dortmund tonight

Tonight Munich's Allianz Arena will witness the curtain raiser of the 50th Bundesliga season, the 2012 German Super Cup, in which Bundesliga and German Cup runners-up FC Bayern Munich take on German double winners Borussia Dortmund.

This years German Super Cup has gained special significance due to the fact that Dortmund has won the last five meetings of the two clubs in the Bundesliga and German Cup and Bayern Munich would like to win this prestige encounter for the psychological advantage of having beaten their bitter rivals from the west.

But Bayern Munich go into the match with numerous injury worries and will have to start with a part-time left back in Can or Gustavo. The side-backs David Alaba, Rafinha and Diego Contento are all out injured likewise midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and striker Mario Gomez. The only piece of good news is that Claudio Pizarro is back in the squad following a hip injury.

Borussia Dortmund meanwhile come to Munich with only injuries to midfielders captain Sebastian Kehl and Sven Bender for whom teenager Moritz Leitner and Ilkay Gündogan are set to start at the heart of midfield. A lot of eyes will be on the lost son Marco Reus, who takes Shinji Kagawa's place in attacking midfield.

The pre-season is slowly coming to an end and the first real test for the two sides reckons tonight at the Allianz Arena.

The match which kicks-off at 20.00 CET (19.00 GMT // 23.30 IST) will be shown live in 199 countries and territories. In Germany the match will be live on ZDF, while in India it will be shown live on Neo Prime


Likely STARTINGS LINE-UPS

Bayern Munich
Manuel Neuer - Philipp Lahm, Dante, Holger Badstuber, Emre Can - Luis Gustavo, Toni Kroos - Arjen Robben, Thomas Müller, Franck Ribery - Mario Mandzukic

Borussia Dortmund
Roman Weidenfeller - Lukasz Piszczek, Neven Subotic, Mats Hummels, Marcel Schmelzer - Ilkay Gündogan, Moritz Leitner - Jakob Blaszczykowski, Marco Reus, Kevin Grosskreutz - Robert Lewandowski

German Super Cup: Schalke 04 win on penalties

The German Cup holders FC Schalke 04 beat bitter Ruhr valley rivals Borussia Dortmund, the Bundesliga champions, 4-3 in a penalty shootout to win the first official trophy of the 2011/12 season, the German Super Cup last night.

The match was played at the Arena auf Schalke infront of a sellout crowds of 61,673 with new Schalke number one Ralf Faehrmann the unlikely hero as he saved two penalties in the shootout from Dortmund's Kevin Grosskreutz and Ivan Perisic, while Schalke scored all their four needed penalties.

In the 90 minutes earlier Dortmund looked the more polished of the two sides, but they simply couldn't score of their numerous chances as Faehrmann made some great saves to keep Schalke in the match. While the first half mostly belonged to Dortmund, in the second session the royal blues did have some chances of their own. It remained goalless and as it is usual in the Super Cup after 90 minutes the match went straight into penalties.

In the shootout 22 year old Faehrmann, who only returned this summer from Eintracht Frankfurt to Schalke to be the new number one for Manuel Neuer who has left for Bayern Munich, showed composure and the coolness to deny Dortmund their first piece of silverware this season.


Here the video highlights from the 2011 German Super Cup

Bayern Munich win Super Cup

FC Bayern Munich started the new season as the old one had ended with a domestic trophy. The German Bundesliga giants, who had last season won the German double of league and cup, beat FC Schalke 04 in the season opening German Super Cup 2-0 at the Impuls Arena in Augsburg.

Bayern were forced to play with an injured Arjen Robben, a Franky Ribery who is in rehabilitation and rested captain Mark van Bommel and keeper Hans Joerg Butt; but still late goals from 2010 FIFA World Cup heroes Thomas Mueller and Miroslav Klose gave the Bavarians the title in the reinstated Super Cup. The Super Cup had been discontinued after the League Cup had been instated as a season opener with six teams playing each other in a knockout tournament, but with too many matches and teams, the League Cup was unpopular with the clubs and the Super Cup was brought back to life.

Bayern Munich coach Louis van Gaal was expected to field a weaker side giving yunger players a chance with his World Cup stars only in training since earlier this week but Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Mueller and Miroslav Klose all made the starting line-up. But with the stars missing a lot of eyes were on Spanish star Raul, who had joined FC Schalke 04 only a few days back. But it was Bayern Munich who had more of the ball in the first session, still they couldn't utilise their possession as they played their usual passing game against a Schalke, who only a week back had beaten Bayern in a friendly tournament match at the Arena auf Schalke.

After the break Bayern Munich upped the tempo a bit and could have gone ahead in the 52nd minute as Klose hit the post, but in the 75th minute Bayern took the lead through Thomas Mueller who received the ball from Klose. Only six minutes later Klose would double the lead and seal the match off an Ivica Olic pass. The latest trophy for the Bayern Munich cupboards of silverware.

After the match Bayern coach Louis van Gaal said, "This team is better than last year's because everyone knows what they have to do."

While van Gaal's counterpart Schalke 04 coach Felix Magath was more realistic about their chances this season. "You must see that we haven't yet got the quality to beat a high-level team," Magath said.