SUPER CUP PLAYER RATINGS | Borussia Dortmund 1-2 Bayern Munich – Bayern win the Super Cup thanks to goals from Michael Olise and Nathaniel Brown | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund:

Others: Jamal Musiala (5), Tom Bischof (-), Min-Jae Kim (-), Leon Goretzka) (-)

GGFN Man of the Match: Harry Kane

The official opening of the 2026/27 German football season began with reigning champions of the league and DFB Pokal, Bayern Munich, travelling to Borussia Dortmund for the Franz Beckenbauer Super Cup.

If you were expecting this game to be an end-to-end classic, you forgot how Niko Kovac plays football. It is safe to say the first half was dominated by Bayern, and the hosts rarely got a chance to challenge Manuel Neuer. Serhou Guirassy had the best chance of the first half but was unable to convert.

Whereas Gregor Kobel had to make several saves to keep out the reigning Bundesliga champions. It would be Bayern who opened the scoring when Michael Olise chested a ball in the direction of Nathaniel Brown, who was playing as a number 10 and, after scoring in his first World Cup game for Germany, he scored in his first ‘competitive’ game for Bayern to make it 1-0.

Dortmund then had a Ramy Bensebaini goal disallowed due to offside. But, just before the break, Bensebaini found himself at the scene of the crime as he was unable to win the ball off Michael Olise, who beat Bensebaini and Waldemar Anton to make it 2-0.

After the break, and the introduction of Giannis Konstantelias, Dortmund were more positive, but they still struggled to challenge Neuer in the Bayern goal.

It would be Konstantelias again who would kick Dortmund into gear and bring them back into the game when his pass found Daniel Svensson, who cut the ball back, and it was converted by Fabio Silva to make it 2-1.

As it looked like Kovac’s side would get back into the game, Bensebaini got himself sent off with a straight red card.

Right at the end of the game, Dortmund had a clear-cut chance to equalise when Anton played in Maximilian Beier, but despite the German being one-on-one with Manuel Neuer, he skied the ball after being put under pressure by Jonathan Tah.

Overall, Bayern were deserved winners; they were in total control for much of the game, and held die Schwarzgelben at bay only until the final 20 minutes or so. From what was shown today, it will take a lot to displace the reigning Bundesliga champions at the top of the table.

For Dortmund, it showed the gap in quality between them and Bayern. While the signings of Konstantinos Karetsas and Konstanelias look very positive, most of the squad who are still around from last season, are very much average and with a head coach in Kovac, who really doesn’t possess the ability to get the best out of some of these players, Dortmund will likely face more of a fight for their second place from the likes of Bayer Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart.

Next weekend, Bayern kick off the Bundesliga season at home to Stuttgart on Friday, while Dortmund play Hamburg on Saturday.

Borussia Dortmund:

Gregor Kobel (6), Joane Gadou (5), Waldemar Anton (5), Ramy Bensebaini (2), Julian Ryerson (5), Jobe Bellingham (4), Felix Nmecha (5), Daniel Svensson (5), Konstantinos Karetsas (5), Samuele Inacio (5), Serhou Guirassy (5)

Others: Giannis Konstantelias (6), Maximilian Beier (5), Joey Veerman (5), Fabio Silva (6), Marcel Sabitzer (5)

Bayern Munich:

Manuel Neuer (5), Josip Stanisic (6), Jonathan Tah (6), Kim Min-Jae (6), Nathanial Brown (7), Joshua Kimmich (6), Aleksander Pavlovic (6), Michael Olise (8), Konrad Laimer (5), Luis Diaz (6), Harry Kane (6)

Others: Alphonso Davies (5), Ismael Saibari (-), Tom Bischof (-)

GGFN Man of the Match: Michael Olise (8)

Following his exploits over the summer with France, you get the feeling that this season we will slowly see Bayern transition from Harry Kane’s team to Olise’s. The 24-year-old is clearly their creative fulcrum, and his goal just before half-time showed how good he is with the ball at close control.

GGFN | Jack Meenan