Carlo Ancelotti has claimed his first trophy as Bayern Munich manager courtesy of a 2-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the German Super Cup this evening.
The German champions travelled to Signal Iduna Park for the traditional curtain-raiser, but that didn't prevent them from easing to the victory against their perennial rivals courtesy of goals from Arturo Vidal and Thomas Muller.
The visitors included summer signing and former Dortmund captain Mats Hummels in their starting XI, but he couldn't prevent the home side from creating the first chance of the match when Shinji Kagawa found himself in space in the area before sending a shot narrowly wide.
Thomas Tuchel's side continued to take the game to Bayern early on, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang soon threatened too, only for his space to be quickly closed down by the visiting defence.
The hosts had been forced to deal with a number of high-profile exits throughout the summer, but one of their new arrivals was the next to come close when Ousmane Dembele latched on to a cross in the box only to be denied by Manuel Neuer.
Neuer was needed again moments later to keep out an effort from Adrian Ramos before Bayern finally produced their first really threatening moment of the match when Vidal sent a piledriver inches past the post.
Vidal was even closer to breaking the deadlock moments later when he nodded an effort goalwards, but Roman Burki was equal to it with a fine save.
Ancelotti's side began to grow into the match as the first half came to its conclusion, and the hosts had Burki to thank for keeping the scores level going into the break when he denied Robert Lewandowski's header.
It was Dortmund who began the second half on top, though, with Felix Passlack and Dembele both seeing efforts kept out by Neuer.
The deadlock was finally broken just before the hour mark, though, as Vidal was found unmarked on the edge of the box and tucked a rebound away having seen his initial effort kept out by Burki.
A second goal arrived with a little more than 10 minutes remaining, and Hummels had a big part to play on his return to the Westfalenstadion as he nodded a corner down into a dangerous area, where Muller was waiting to apply the finish touch from close range.
That proved to be the killer touch for the champions, who win the trophy for the first time since 2012.
Barney Corkhill
