Borussia Dortmund defeated Bayern Munich 2-0 to clinch its second successive German Super Cup on Wednesday.
Dortmund dominated the match from start to finish. Goals from Henry Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang handed them their first domestic trophy of the season.
Coach Pep Guardiola, searching for his first victory in the German domestic season opener, was without winger Franck Ribeery and defender Rafinha, but named three of his Fifa World Cup winners- golden gloves recipient Manuel Neuer, midfielder Thomas Muller and defender Jerome Boateng- in his starting XI.
Robert Lewndowski returned to his former ground, Westfalenstadion, to face a club, where he scored 74 goals in 131 appearances, but was marked out by the ‘Black and Yellows’.
The hosts took the lead on 23 minutes, when Mkhitaryan’s attempted through ball into the path of Aubameyang was prevented from reaching the Gabonese by David Alaba, only for the ball to return to the Armenian, who released a shot to the left of Neuer.
Guardiola had claimed to have only “eight or nine fully-fit players” prior to kick-off and the condition turned from bad to worse after half an hour, as defender Javi Martinez injured himself having struck Marcel Schmelzer’s arm with his knee; he paved way for Brazilian Dante.
Neuer’s palmed away a Sebastian Kehl’s shot before he and Jonas Hofmann tested the German goalkeeper.
Bayern mounted the first real attack of the second-half with Robert Lewandowski on the forefront, but goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak blocked the Polish striker’s shot with his upper body.
Aubameyang then exchanged passes with Lukasz Piszczek and smartly sneaked behind Boateng to move into the centre of the 18 yard at the end of the Pole’s cross and head unstoppably past Neuer.
The man nicknamed Spiderman produced a replica of the character’s mask to celebrate his goal.
Ciro Immobile missed a chance to triple Dortmund’s lead, as well as registering his first goal in his first competitive match since joining from Torino.
