The Franz Beckenbauer Supercup is a partisan curtain-raiser between league and cup winners played at one competitor's stadium. The match usually brims with intensity but seldom predicts the coming Bundesliga season. Bayer Leverkusen replicated their double-winning quality last year by beating Stuttgart with a late Patrik Schick goal and winning on penalties despite spending much of the match with 10 men. The prior year saw Harry Kane's inauspicious Bayern debut end in a heavy defeat as Dani Olmo scored a hat-trick for Leipzig. Bayern remain formidable and appear inevitable even without Jamal Musiala. Kane described Vincent Kompany's squad as small.
The newly named Franz Beckenbauer Supercup has many uses. Unlike some of its continental counterparts, this curtain-raising meeting between league and cup winners tends to brim with a pleasing intensity. It unfolds in a partisan atmosphere too, taking place at one of the two competitors' stadium rather than at a neutral venue, so we feel the real straight away. Telling us what to expect for the coming nine months in the Bundesliga, however, isn't often one of the Supercup's strengths.
Bayer Leverkusen gave a faithful impression of their double-winning form in emerging victorious in last year's edition by punking Stuttgart with a late Patrik Schick goal before winning on penalties, having played a huge chunk of the match with 10 men. The year before, Harry Kane made an inauspicious Bayern Munich debut at the end of a crazy 24 hours, entering the field to tumultuous acclaim only for his new team to subsequently be flattened by Dani Olmo's hat-trick for Leipzig.
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