Saturday, July 27, 2013

Borussia Dortmund 4-2 Bayern Munich: Reus at the double as Klopp's side claims Supercup



Pep Guardiola's first competitive game as Bayern Munich boss ended in defeat as Dortmund won the DFL-Supercup courtesy of a 3-2 win at Signal Iduna Park.

Marco Reus opened the scoring inside six minutes as a result of a goalkeeping blunder, before Arjen Robben equalized after halftime.

Bayern was undone by an attacking tidal wave soon after, with Daniel van Buyten and Ilkay Gundogan making it 3-1 seconds later, before Robben reduced the deficit. Substitute Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang teed up Reus for a fourth as Dortmund rallied to victory.

Guardiola deployed his 4-1-4-1 formation which was used extensively in pre-season, with Thiago Alcantara deployed deep in midfield, and Xherdan Shaqiri handed a

start. Dortmund made just the one change from the side that started the Champions League final nine weeks ago, with Nuri Sahin starting in midfield, and Kevin Grosskreutz deputizing for Lukasz Piszczek at right back

An edgy opening of the match at Signal Iduna Park quickly swung in Dortmund's favor six minutes in. Robert Lewandowski, subject of fierce interest from Bayern over the summer, saw his cross helped on by Sven Bender, whose seemingly tame header was flapped at by Tom Starke, allowing Marco Reus to head into the net.

Bayern, already behind failed to recover from that initial setback, and were lucky not to have gone 2-0 behind, as Lewandowski raced through past David Alaba, to slot home under Starke, before being pulled back for a debatable offside call.

Nevertheless, the European champion began to settle into a rhythm and posed Dortmund a few problems, with Shaqiri firing a low shot towards Weidenfeller, who was forced into a fantastic double save seconds later as the Swiss international was thwarted along with Thomas Muller with the unsuccessful follow-up.

Jurgen Klopp's side continued to search for their second and were again denied by Starke. Ilkay Gundogan fed through Reus on the edge of the area, squaring into the middle for Lewandowski who was beaten by the sprawling legs of the goalkeeper.

For all of their perseverance, Bayern equalized early into the second half after a dazzling spell. Philipp Lahm's superb cross was met by the head of Robben, who after scoring the winning goal of the Champions League final, punished Dortmund here again with the leveller.

But Dortmund were unperturbed, and swiftly regained the lead after a superb counterattack which resulted in Daniel van Buyten deflecting the ball into his own net. Seconds later, it was 3-1 after Gundogan's curling effort beat the defense and Starke, allowing for a third goal scored in little over a minute and a half of frenzied action.

Bayern, though, continued to go for the jugular after yet another setback and were back in sight after another bit of fine work by Lahm on the wing. The Germany captain's teasing low ball picked up Robben, who deftly beat those around him and Weidenfeller to reduce the deficit.

At the other end, die Roten were also profligate in front of goal, as another golden chance went begging. Shaqiri this time with a fine pass into the path of Alaba, whose teasing low ball evaded Mandzukic by inches before Thomas Muller was undone by the crossbar in a brilliant conclusion to the game.

However, Dortmund - which squandered countless chances late on, finally saw itself over the line with a blistering counterattack. Lewandowski set off Aubameyang, who teed up Reus for a superb fourth to seal the first trophy of the German football season.

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