In the stadium of its first Champions League triumph, FC Bayern made a powerful start to the new premier class season with the brilliant, noble technician Leroy Sané. The Munich team won 2-0 (1-0) on Wednesday evening after a solid performance at Inter Milan and, after the 19th win in the opening round, can look forward to the big showdown with FC Barcelona in the coming week from a position of strength. It’s ready for the quick and explosive reunion in the Allianz Arena with world footballer Robert Lewandowski, who switched to Barça in the summer and scored several goals again in the evening against Viktoria Pilsen.
In the stands of the legendary San Siro, CEO Oliver Kahn and sports director Hasan Salihamidzic were able to celebrate Sané’s goal in the 25th minute 21 years after the final victory as a player against FC Valencia. The national striker, who sprinted into the depths, volleyed a precise, long ball from Joshua Kimmich with his left foot, rounded Inter goalkeeper André Onana and, to crown it all, pushed the ball over the goal line with his right foot.
“Ultimately, I just want to play a good game, have a good feeling and leave the field happy,” said Sané on “DAZN”. The own goal by Inter captain Danilo D’Ambrosio (66th) in front of around 58,951 spectators forced Sané after a strong double interaction with Kingsley Coman. The German national player was rightly voted Man of the Match.
In the best football atmosphere, Bayern only needed a few minutes to arrive in the new Champions League season. With a lot of pressure, the German record champions worked their way towards the penalty area. Joshua Kimmich was the first to try to overcome Onana (3rd), a little later it was Thomas Müller’s turn (8th). The Inter goalkeeper replaced Samir Handanovic for the Nerazzurri, who started with the unremarkable international player Robin Gosens.
Nagelsmann, who had watched Bayern’s triumph in 2001 as a fan on the sofa, conducted his professionals in the black shirt on the sidelines energetically as usual. Kahn had confirmed shortly before the kick-off at DAZN: “Obviously, we want to try to win the Champions League every season.”
The fact that the opponents in the premier class can have a different format than in the Bundesliga was only rudimentarily shown by the Milanese, who were weakening in Serie A. Bayern repeatedly played strong direct games against the back five, after a combination via Sané and Sadio Mané Onana had to stretch quite a bit to deflect Müller’s shot over the goal (23′). Then Kimmich and Sané scored the opening goal together. In particular, driver Kimmich, who, together with Marcel Sabitzer, steered the game with a lot of overview, showed his strong form again in the World Cup year.
At most, Munich had to be accused of not having converted the superiority into more goals in good time. Alphonso Davies, Müller and Sabitzer missed the second goal with a triple chance (37th).
At the beginning of the second half, Inter gave up their own passivity forced by the score, the former Bundesliga professional Edin Dzeko tried in the 50th minute against national goalkeeper Manuel Neuer from close range. In this short phase, Bayern allowed themselves to lose their concentration – but they were still able to free themselves easily from the Inter pressure with a slight increase in tempo. Onana almost slipped a deflected Kimmich cross through his hands into the goal (65′), before Sané and Coman combined in the Inter penalty area and forced Bayern’s second goal.
New competition, old suffering: due to a fatal mishap by goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky, Bayer Leverkusen also started the Champions League with an avoidable defeat. The Werkself lost 1-0 (0-1) at Belgian champions FC Brugge on Wednesday and have now lost six of seven competitive games in all competitions. To make matters worse, two goals from Patrick Schick (73rd/77th) were disallowed on Wednesday for being offside.
Significant: As so often in recent weeks, Abakar Sylla (41′) made it 0-1 after a corner kick, although this time captain Hradecky looked anything but good. He actually already had Sylla’s header, but fell into the goal with the caught ball. Little consolation for the Finn: UEFA did not count the goal as an own goal. In the group with Atlético Madrid and FC Porto, Leverkusen are already under a lot of pressure before the home game against the Spaniards next Tuesday (9 p.m. / DAZN).
