Borussia Dortmund got some revenge for losing in the Champions League Final at Wembley in May as they beat Bayern Munich 4-2 to win the German Sup Cup on Saturday, handing Pep Guardiola his first defeat in charge of the European Champions.
Bayern has been dominate leading up to this game, scoring 61 goals and conceding just three in Guardiola’s nine friendly games in charge.
But it did not take long for the step up in competition to expose some Bayern weaknesses. The Bayern’s defense was to blame for the home side’s opening goal when it failed to deal with Sven Bender’s header and reserve goalkeeper Tom Starke could only parry the ball away, allowing Reus to score with a header.
Robert Lewandowski, a transfer target for Bayern, had a goal ruled offside shortly afterward, and later shot straight at Starke from close range.
Xherdan Shaqiri, playing in place of the injured Franck Ribery, was twice denied by good saves from Roman Weidenfeller, while Mario Mandzukic came agonizingly close to converting a dangerous cross whipped in by David Alaba as Bayern sought a response.
But Dortmund finished the half strongly, with Gundogan drawing a save from Starke and having another effort deflected wide by Jerome Boateng, who berated teammate Van Buyten after another mix-up almost allowed Lewandowski through.
Robben was booed with every touch of the ball, as the home fans remembered his late winner against their side in the Champions League final, and he answered by meeting Lahm’s cross to equalize in the 54th minute.
But Dortmund were back in front a minute later when Daniel van Buyten’s attempted headed clearance from Ilkay Gundogan’s cross flew spectacularly past his own goalkeeper and then
Guendogan followed that up by running at the Bayern defense and curling his shot inside the far post.
Robben scored again at the other end in the 64th, but offseason signing Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang set up Reus to decide the first title of the season in the 86th, though replays showed the winger was marginally offside.
Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp was delighted with his team’s victory, especially without new signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who has torn ankle ligaments.
“It was a great game, both teams ran up and down like there was no tomorrow,” beamed the Dortmund boss.
“It’s good to have won the Super Cup, when the winner is happy and the loser disappointed. We won, which is really great and when we play them in Munich, we will also want to win there. The main thing is Bayern aren’t our main rivals, we are just focusing on us.”
