How the Supercup was won and lost
Bayern Munich picked up a record sixth Supercup on Saturday, beating Borussia Dortmund on penalties after a thrilling 2-2 draw which saw Robert Lewandowski and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put down early markers in their race for the 2017/18 Torjägerkanone.
But how exactly was the Signal Iduna Park showdown won and lost? bundesliga.com takes a closer look…
1) Hot off the Dortmund press
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In Aubameyang - a player who clocked a faster time than Usain Bolt over 30 metres 12 years before Justin Gatlin did - in his ranks, alongside the quicksilver Ousmane Dembele and Christian Pulisic, Dortmund coach Peter Bosz has the perfect trio of players to press from the front when the opposition has the ball, as well as break forward at blistering speed on the counter when possession is won back.
Watch: Aubameyang scores the goal of the game!
Pulisic and Aubameyang each had just a single shot on target, but it's all they needed to bag a goal apiece. USA winger Pulisic's harrying saw him rob Javi Martinez of possession on the edge of the Bayern box before slotting past Sven Ulreich to open the scoring on 12 minutes; and the same explosiveness looked to have won Dortmund the game when Aubameyang capped off a fine break - in which Sebastian Rode, Dembele and the Gabonese striker needed just two touches each - chipping home the goal of the game 19 minutes from time.
2) Bürki the sweeper-keeper
Bayern captain for the day Thomas Müller lamented after the game that: "We were unable to free ourselves from Dortmund’s pressure. We had to pass back to the goalkeeper [Sven Ulreich] too many times and therefore played a lot of long balls forward." Indeed, Bayern played 40 long balls in total - 19 more than their opponents. This is not a problem Dortmund had, despite their high defensive line.
Roman Bürki, Roman Weidenfeller and Dominik Reimann played passing triangles before the game, and it was clear which of the three 'keepers had dabbled as a midfielder in their youth. Bürki frequently reminded Bayern what they were missing in Manuel Neuer's absence, hoovering up the final ball as well as having the technique to find a teammate having done so. The Swiss shot-stopper completed 85 per cent of his passes; Ulreich managed just 45 per cent of his.
3) Kimmich, a wolf in Lahm's clothing
Bayern overcame the above by focussing on one crucial fault-line, though. With Marcel Schmelzer injured, Dortmund played 18-year-old Dan-Axel Zagadou, a left-footed centre-back, at left-back. The France Under-18 captain did well in winning over 60 percent of his challenges, but when Müller drifted inside from Bayern's right, he took the defender with him, leaving space for the overlapping Joshua Kimmich to exploit. Corentin Tolisso - nominally a midfielder - dropped in to cover the right-back when he bombed forward.
Lewandowski's equaliser six minutes after Pulisic's opener was a tap-in after Kimmich was free to cross from that flank. The goal for 2-2 late on saw the same space exploited. This time Zagadou's replacement Felix Passlack drew the foul on the edge of the area and Kimmich, with a growing taste for the big occasion, helped force home the leveller via a bevy of Black and Yellow bodies.
4) Brewed in 1990s England, fermented in Bavaria?
With Müller effectively partnering Lewandowski in attack; Bayern sported a 4-4-2 formation - a first under Carlo Ancelotti - as well as launching the ball forward nearly twice as often as Dortmund. Sound familiar? It's certainly a style that precedes the Pep Guardiola school of thought by at least a decade.
But it worked! "Once you get behind their first line of pressing there is space," continued Müller post-match. Bayern's four-man midfield frequently found themselves up against what became a three-man equivalent. Arturo Vidal and Sebastian Rudy combined for 141 touches at the heart of the game; Nuri Sahin and Gonzalo Castro - their opposite numbers, only mustered 109. With the Lahm conundrum seemingly solved with Kimmich, some at the Allianz Arena have been worrying how to replace Xabi Alonso at the base of midfield. On the strength of Saturday's performance, it looks like they have more than one candidate.
Watch: Bayern Munich lift the Supercup trophy!
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