“In all team sports, the secret is to overload one side of the pitch so that the opponent must tilt its own defence to cope. After doing that, you attack and score from the other side,” according to former Bayern Munich and present Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Bayern, which edged out Dortmund in the Super Cup on Saturday, did exactly that at least until half-time with skipper Thomas Muller given a free role behind No.9 Robert Lewandowski.
Muller, Lewandowski, Franck Ribery and make-shift left-back Rafinha combined brilliantly to divert Dortmund’s attention to the right. Generally, great players respond to the passing of time by trimming their game, but Ribery showed no signs of slowing down, piercing through the Dortmund defence at will.
During one such move, Bayern right-back Joshua Kimmich made a darting run and after receiving a pass from Muller sent a perfect cross to Lewandowski, who tapped in the equaliser in the 18th minute.
Earlier, Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic robbed Javi Martinez of the ball and coolly slotted past Sven Ulreich for the opener in the 12th minute.
Dortmund coach Peter Bosz continued from where Thomas Tuchel left off by deploying an attacking 4-1-2-3 with Nuri Sahin shielding the defence and club’s new signing Mahmoud Dahoud and Gonzalo Castro on either side of him. Pulisic (left) and Ousmane Dembele (right) supported Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the attack.
One of the interesting aspects of Bosz’s attacking style was the positioning of the front three during Bayern’s corners. Pulisic, Aubameyang and Dembele were asked to stay near the half-line for a quick counter-attack and the move deprived Bayern from pushing more men into the box.
Dortmund enhanced its lead with Aubameyang finishing off a rapid counter-attack with a lovely dink over Ulreich in the 71st minute.
Earlier, Bayern lost its plot when Ancelotti substituted Muller with Kingsley Coman. The Frenchman, who hasn’t been playing consistently, not only struggled to combine with Lewandowski, but also couldn’t move the ball into dangerous areas.
Ancelotti had to make amends by bringing in Renato Sanches to support the Frenchman on the right. Bayern looked balanced after the move and made goal-threatening forays into the box.
Dortmund was thwarting all danger and looked to have done enough but a late own-goal by Lukasz Piszczek forced the game to penalties. Bayern won 5-4 after Ulreich saved two spot kicks in the shootout.
Bayern starts its Bundesliga title defence on 18 August at home to Bayer Leverkusen, while Dortmund goes to Wolfsburg a day later.
The result: Dortmund 2 (Pulisic 12, Aubameyang 71) drew with Bayern Munich 2 (Lewandowski 18, Piszczek 88-og). Bayern won on penalties 5-4.
(The writer is in Dortmund at the invitation of Bundesliga)