Author: Amrit Santlani, Serg Atrakhov
Leipzig was founded just 14 years ago, but has already won the third trophy in its history. In the 2021/22 season, Marco Rose’s team won the German Cup and repeated the feat last season. And now, two and a half months later, they’ve beaten the country’s multiple champions in the Super Bowl. Incidentally, last year Leipzig played in the German Super Cup for the first time, losing 3-5 to Bayern. The rematch was convincing.
Ten-time Bundesliga champions Leipzig took on DFB Pokal winners Leipzig at the Allianz Arena on Sunday. Bayern had twice as much possession (63% to 37%), but hardly created any dangerous moments. A small number of fouls also indicates that the season is only just beginning and the players are far from their best playing condition.
Leipzig needed just three minutes to open the scoring. David Raum and on-loan midfielder Xavi Simmons lined up to take a free-kick at the start of the game. The former’s throw into the box was perfect, and Dani Olmo grabbed the ball after Bayern’s defenders failed to clear it properly. The Spaniard got past several defenders and sent the ball into the back of the net.
Marco Rose’s men had their noses in front and from then on the Bavarians never recovered. Nicolas Seiwald was caught out by Serge Gnabry in the 15th minute, when the German cut inside to feed Mathys Tel, who had the whole goal to aim at, but somehow the Frenchman shot the ball straight at Janis Blaswich, who made a top save to keep his side in front.
Shortly before the end of the first half, Olmo combined with Timo Werner and scored a beautiful goal to double his team’s lead. Werner fed the Spaniard, who turned inside and left his marker behind. Somehow, the youngster managed to stay on his feet and pass the ball past the oncoming Sven Ulreich into the empty net. Matthijs de Ligt couldn’t come close to Olmo, as the 25-year-old kept up his fine form from last season. Shortly after the hour mark, Leipzig won a penalty, Olmo stepped up and completed his hat-trick to virtually seal the result.
After a long summer saga, Harry Kane completed his move to Bayern Munich just in time to be included in the squad for the DFL Super Cup against RB Leipzig. The Bavarians had several bids rejected by Tottenham before finally tabling an offer of £100 million, which could rise to £120 million including add-ons.
The 30-year-old England captain and record goalscorer was hoping to win the first trophy of his professional career. Tuchel released him in the 64th minute, but Kane is still far from his best form. He wore the number 9 shirt and was greeted with enthusiasm on his first appearance. Tuchel wasn’t at all happy with his team’s performance, as the German coach insisted that his team is much better than the one they showed against Leipzig.
“I can’t explain it. It simply wasn’t enough in all departments. I have no idea why. There’s no relationship between our shape and attitude going into the game and our performance on the pitch. That’s not good. It’s the worst thing of all, because there’s a huge discrepancy. And I feel sorry for Kane. He probably thinks we haven’t trained for four weeks. Our performance today had nothing to do with what we were trying to do. It’s a bitter night, I apologize“.
In addition to the England international, defender Kim Min-jae also made his debut for the Bavarians, coming on in place of De Ligt after the restart. Thanks to Ulreich, Bayern didn’t concede another goal late on, as Fábio Carvalho launched Benjamin Šeško through on goal with a sumptuous pass that split the defense, but the striker couldn’t beat the Bayern goalkeeper.