The early buzz around the Allianz Arena blasted away the cob-webs from Bayern Munich’s DFL Super Cup defeat to Borussia Dortmund a fortnight ago.
On 11 minutes, Robben opened his account for the season, picking the perfect time, aided by the false run of Kroos, latching on to Ribery’s exquisite clipped pass and wrong-footing Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.
Lucien Favre barely had time to rally his group before Mandzukic poked home a second goal after just a quarter of an hour.
It seemed as though we had seen this all before. Guardiola’s possession-focused style and the urge to create space in attack left the backdoor open at an alarming rate.
Dante might have been here in person; but he was still on holiday by the looks of things. He conceded possession rashly to Granit Xhaka who sparked a bright counter-attack, but Raffael missed the target.
At the Nordkurve end of the Allianz Arena, chances were passed up in quick succession. First, Mandzukic unmarked at the far-post, then Ribery from long-range.
The French attacker – shortlisted this week for UEFA Player of the Year – picked up where he left off from last season, entertaining the home support with some ingenuity that left three Gladbach defenders in his wake.
The away side kept posing the question of the Bayern rearguard on the break, using the raw pace of Patrick Herrmann to good effect, although, in both instances, Raffael failed to convert the move into a goal.
Soon, though, they would prevail. Arango’s near-post delivery caught Dante in two minds and he toe-poked the ball past a helpless Neuer with six minutes left in the half.
Even without the established Club No. 12 group – who were reportedly boycotting, according to Karl-Heinz Rummenigge – there was a heck of a racket inside the stadium.
And in an absorbing transition from attack-to-attack, within 30 seconds both sides came close to bursting the net. Robben’s wing-play was fabulous all night and he waited for Kroos to join the play – only for the 23-year-old to smash the right-hand post.
Those gasps of breath from the Bayern support were drawn quickly in a tense transition to a Gladbach counter-attack, with Christoph Kramer ready to blast the ball into the net; only for Herrmann to sneak in the path of a goal-bound right-foot piledriver.
Prior to that, Gladbach were the stronger side in the quarter of an hour after the interval with Max Kruse lacking a clinical finish on two occasions. But Bayern eventually clawed back their two-goal advantage in bizarre circumstances with 15 to play.
Alejandro Dominguez was penalised for a handball inside the box, still only for Thomas Muller to be denied by Ter Stegen’s left glove. Yet Bayern Munich were awarded a second bite at the cherry, Dominguez committing the exact same offence inside a remarkable passage of play.
Muller handed the responsibility to David Alaba who had ice in his veins as he send the Gladbach keeper the wrong way. Both decisions infuriated the visiting dugout and sporting director Max Eberl was sent to the stands after losing his temper.
Guardiola and Favre shuffled their respective units in the final 10 minutes, but as the Swiss coach introduced inexperienced talents, such as, Amin Younes and Branimir Hrgota, Bayern were secure with Javi Martinez.
Bayern walk away from Matchday One with a strong performance – and three points.
Bayern: Neuer; Lahm, Dante, Boateng, Alaba; Kroos (Martinez 84), Schweinsteiger (Kirchhoff 72); Robben, Muller (Rafinha 77), Ribery; Mandzukic
Gladbach: Ter Stegen; Jantschke, Daems, Dominguez, Stranzl; Xhaka, Kramer (de Jong 85), Arango (Younes 70), Herrmann (Hrgota 70) , Kruse, Raffael,
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