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Top-flight German football returns with the Franz Beckenbauer Super Cup between VfB Stuttgart and Bayern Munich.
The newly named Super Cup saw last season’s Bundesliga winners, Bayern, face last season’s DFB Pokal winners Stuttgart.
The biggest story heading into this game has been the future of Nick Woltemade. The star of the under-21 Euros this summer has been the subject of a transfer tussle between Bayern and Stuttgart for weeks. The Swabians have remained firm in the stance that the 23-year-old will not leave this summer, and Bayern have continually had offers rejected, with their most recent one rejected earlier this week. All eyes were on Woltemade heading into this game.
From the off, Bayern were the better team. They had significantly more chances in front of the goal, and if it were not for poor finishing, they could have taken an early lead. In the 18th minute, Bayern’s effectiveness would be rewarded when a mistake from Luca Jaquez allowed the ball to land in front of Harry Kane to make it 1-0. Stuttgart had two great chances to equalise, but each time Manuel Neuer was able to thwart the attempt. The first came from Josha Vagnoman, and immediately after, the man of the hour, Woltemade’s effort was also saved.
The takeaway from the first half was that Bayern were not as dominant as they were last season, and Stuttgart were far too wasteful when in possession.
The second half did see momentum swing slightly in Stuttgart’s favour as they came out of half-time swinging, but they had to rely on Fabian Bredlow a couple of times. Stuttgart’s best chance in the second half came when Jamie Leweling’s effort was saved spectacularly by Neuer, after the ball took a deflection off a Bayern player. The dagger for Bayern came soon after when a counter from the Bundesliga champions allowed Luis Diaz to open his account for Bayern after heading in a Serge Gnabry cross to make it 2-0. Leweling would get his goal right at the end of the game to make it 2-1, but it was too little too late for Stuttgart.
Overall, it is hard to take anything away from this game. Bayern were not as dominant as they were last season, and for the majority of the game, Stuttgart were very much in it; they were just too wasteful.
With the start of the Bundesliga on the horizon, next weekend, we will be able to get a good idea of where both Bayern and Stuttgart are.
But the gap between the two teams, compared to their meeting last season, has definitely closed.
VfB Stuttgart:
Fabian Bredlow (6), Josha Vagnoman (5), Luca Jaquez (4), Jeff Chabot (5), Maximilian Mittelstädt (5), Atakan Karazor (5), Angelo Stiller (5), Jamie Leweling (6), Deniz Undav (6), Chris Führich ()5, Nick Woltemade (6)
Others: Ramon Hendriks (5), Ermedin Demirovic (5), Nikolas Nartey (-), Lorenz Assignon (-), Chema Andres (-)
Bayern Munich:
Manuel Neuer (8), Konrad Laimer (6), Jonathan Tah (5), Dayot Upamecano (6), Josip Stanisic (5), Joshua Kimmich (6), Leon Goretzka (5), Michael Olise (6), Serge Gnabry (6), Luis Diaz (6), Harry Kane (6)
Others: Sacha Boey (5), Min-Jae Kim (-), Raphaël Guerreiro (-), Tom Bischof (-), Lennart Karl (-)
GGFN Man of the Match: Manuel Neuer (8)
Neuer rolled back the years and, several times, made crucial saves to keep Stuttgart out of the game. The standout, and the most important, were the saves from Woltemade and Leweling.
Gnabry also deserves a mention as he created three chances and put in a good performance centrally and on the right, positions that he will occupy more of with Jamal Musiala out injured.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
