Jadon Sancho stars in Borussia Dortmund’s Super Cup triumph
England forward Jadon Sancho scored a goal and set up another as Borussia Dortmund beat Bayern Munich 2-0 yesterday morning (Singapore time) to deny the German league and cup champions a fourth straight Super Cup title.
Sancho, 19, fed Spain forward Paco Alcacer for Dortmund's opener just after the break before clinching the victory and his side's first trophy since 2017 with a clinical finish within the final half an hour of play.
"We absolutely wanted to win this match, it was very difficult," said Dortmund coach Lucien Favre, after lifting the trophy in front of their home fans at the Signal Iduna Park.
"Bayern were very strong and had a lot of possession, but we defended well and stayed very compact. We knew that we had to go on the counter-attack and we did that very well."
Bayern, who pipped Favre's side to the Bundesliga title last season and lifted the German Cup, were without World Cup winning left-back and new signing Lucas Hernandez due to a knee problem.
Dortmund's big signings - winger Thorgan Hazard and Julian Brandt, as well as defender Mats Hummels, returning to the club after three seasons in Bavaria - were also ruled out due to injuries.
Bayern captain Manuel Neuer said their errors proved costly.
"We gave Dortmund the match by making too many mistakes," Neuer said.
"We made the mistakes all on our own, we gave them possession and that's why we conceded the goals."
The home side had a good early chance.
Portugal winger Raphael Guerreiro broke down the left flank and cut back to find captain Marco Reus inside the penalty box. Reus' effort was then well saved by Neuer after less than a minute of play.
Bayern's best opportunity of the first half fell to Kingsley Coman 10 minutes later.
He found himself unmarked in the box, but his toe-poke shot was saved by Dortmund goalkeeper Marwin Hitz.
Bayern's inability to make the most of the ball in the first half came back to bite them almost immediately after the break.
In a foray down the left flank, Sancho beat four Bayern defenders with quick step-overs before feeding Alcacer who, from the edge of the box, beat Neuer with a low shot for a 1-0 lead on 48 minutes.
Dortmund's lead was doubled with 22 minutes to go. Sancho was free once again on the right wing and he burst into the box beyond Bayern's back-four, and nutmegged the experienced Neuer to make it 2-0.
The influential Sancho left the field with 10 minutes to play after seeming to be hurt following an off-the-field challenge by Joshua Kimmich.
Bayern coach Niko Kovac brought on Portugal midfielder Renato Sanches and France World Cup winner Benjamin Pavard late on, but they were unable to find the goals to retain the Super Cup and the early-season bragging rights.
Bayern start the defence of their league title by hosting Hertha Berlin on Aug 16 and Dortmund play Augsburg a day later. - AFP
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