By Dan Gaichas,
Three of Bayern Munich’s new signings made their league debut and all three made an impact in the five-time defending champion’s 3-1 over Bayer Leverkusen. It is the ninth time in ten that Bayern has won the opening match of the Bundesliga season and that the defending champion has gone 13-3-0 (13 wins, three draws) in the opening match since 2002.
Bayern took the lead on nine minutes as ex-Hoffenheim man Sebastian Rudy sent a free kick into the box that was headed in by ex-Hoffenheim man Niklas Süle. Ten minutes later, ex-Lyon player Corentin Tolisso headed in a looping cross from Arturo Vidal after Leverkusen were again poor on a set piece.
The second half was delayed 15 minutes due to heavy rains in the area. When play resumed, Leverkusen were the better of the two sides nearly scoring early. Bayern’s third goal in the 53rd minute came with an assist from another debutante—the video assistant referee system (VAR). The VAR in Cologne saw Charles Aranguiz pull down Robert Lewandowski in the box and referee Tobias Stieler pointed to the spot after not giving a penalty earlier. Lewandowski converted the spot kick to make it 3-0.
Leverkusen had their chances in this one and were finally rewarded in the 65th minute through Admir Mehmedi connecting on a pass from Julian Brandt. However, that was a close as they got as Sven Ulreich made three saves and Joshua Kimmich made a goal line clearance on Dominik Kohr to preserve the three points.
Bayern’s next match is away to Werden Bremen on Saturday, August 26th at 8:30am on FS1.
