Bayern Munich brushed aside Eintracht Frankfurt to start their season with a seventh DFL-Supercup triumph.
Robert Lewandowski starred with a hat-trick, putting aside a poor 2018 FIFA World Cup with Poland.
Substitute Kingsley Coman and Thiago added two more to give Niko Kovać a dream start in the ground he called home until May.
Bayern take control after difficult start
The curtain-raiser to the German football season saw a repeat of the DFB-Pokal final, when Eintracht shocked Bayern with a 3-1 win. Niko Kovać is now in charge of the Bundesliga champions, and he named a familiar-looking side which included a first competitive Bayern start for Manuel Neuer in 11 months. The only newcomer Leon Goretzka on the bench, with Jérôme Boateng and James Rodríguez were injured. Adi Hütter named two debutants for his first game in charge of the hosts, with Frederik Rönnow and Lucas Torró starting. Ante Rebić was only named on the bench.
As was the case in May, Frankfurt weren’t afraid to get into the faces of Bayern, who struggled to play with any fluency in the early stages. The hosts posed a threat at the other end as well, though David Abraham couldn’t make the most of their best opportunity, heading a Jonathan de Guzman free-kick well over the bar.
In typical Bayern fashion though, they took the one chance they did get, with two players who had disappointing World Cup campaigns with their respective countries. An excellent cross from Joshua Kimmich found Lewandowski, who headed home past the Danish goalkeeper Rönnow.
Mijat Gaćinović struck wide just after, but the game was turning in Bayern’s favour. Frankfurt struggled to deal with a succession of Bayern crosses, with Makoto Hasebe eventually clearing. That was followed by a little spat between Abraham and Lewandowski, and the aftermath of that seemed to distract the hosts as the resulting corner came in. Lewandowski was left all alone, heading in once more, with Rönnow not covering himself in glory either.
Bayern were dominant now but they couldn’t quite make it three, coming closest when Thomas Müller saw a shot from distance go wide of the post. They were lucky to still have 11 men on the field at the break though. Gaćinović was through on go before being hacked down by Mats Hummels. He didn’t get the ball, and he was the last man, but he was only booked. De Guzman’s free-kick was hit into the wall.
Coman wraps it up after Lewandowski completes hat-trick
Rönnow might have had an uneasy first 45 minutes in a Frankfurt shirt but he did well when tested early in the second half. He was equal to a tricky corner from Kimmich, sending it out for another. And then when the follow-up was played short, Müller teed up Arjen Robben, whose shot from outside the box was parried wide by Rönnow.
He was a tad unfortunate with the third goal though, which saw Lewandowski complete his hat-trick. After winning the ball out wide, Bayern quickly moved it forward with Müller finding their frontman, who hit it off the Frankfurt keeper into the back of the net for his and Bayern’s third.
Despite Sébastien Haller going wide from a corner, there was little to shout about for Frankfurt now. Rönnow had to save another shot, low from outside the box, from Lewandowski, before a good attack on the left from Franck Ribéry and David Alaba saw the latter crossing low into the box. Rönnow got a hand to it, but it was not enough to keep it away from Coman, who soon after coming on added a fourth goal as the match threatened to turn into a rout.
The hero of the evening in Lewandowski went off in some disgrace though, after getting in another fight, this time with Abraham, who to be fair had elbowed him in the face, and like Hummels in the first half only saw a yellow. Kovać hooked the Pole off before he could get into any trouble himself. Bayern were forced to play the last 15 minute with ten men though, with Alaba forced off after appearing to injure his knee after they had used all their substitutes.
That didn’t prevent them from dominating and going on to score a fifth. Coman did superbly again, somehow jumping over the tackle of a Frankfurt man in the box, allowing him to set up Thiago in the middle for a relative tap-in. There was even time for Sandro Wagner, Lewandowski’s replacement, to side-foot wide of an open goal, but at 5-0 up he could laugh it off, and he would soon have his hands on the Supercup trophy.