Leipzig, July 31: Sadio Mané scored to help Bayern Munich defeat Leipzig 5-3 and win the German Super Cup on Saturday, when Bayer Leverkusen and Cologne were upset in the first round of the German Cup.
Jamal Musiala, Mané and Benjamin Pavard all scored in the first half as 10-time Bundesliga champion Bayern threatened a rout in Leipzig.
But the visitors needed Leroy Sané to seal the win in the eighth minute of injury time after Marcel Halstenberg, Christopher Nkunku and Daniel Olmo pulled Leipzig back into the game. Serge Gnabry also scored for Bayern.
The annual super cup between the league and cup champions is traditionally the curtainraiser for the new German season, but it was denied that honour due to a congested schedule with cup games taking place already on Friday and earlier Saturday, when third-division club Elversberg stunned Leverkusen 4-3.
Patrik Schick scored late for Leverkusen – which finished third in the Bundesliga last season – but Elversberg survived four minutes of injury time to reach the second round.
Cologne lost to second-division team Jahn Regensburg 4-3 on penalties after their game ended 2-2 with extra time. It was a repeat of their previous meeting in February 2021.
Wolfsburg, the other Bundesliga team in action, edged fourth-tier Carl Zeiss Jena 1-0.
Paderborn routed fifth-tier Einheit Wernigerode 10-0, while second-division rivals Hamburger SV, St. Pauli, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Greuther Fürth and Heidenheim all came through their respective games.
Borussia Dortmund and Stuttgart progressed on Friday.
Bayern’s and Leipzig’s cup games were postponed to the end of August due to their participation in the super cup. (AP)
