Sadio Mane scored on debut as Defending Champions Bayern Munich hit five goals in the first half to beat Eintracht Frankfurt 6-1 in the Bundesliga season opener on Friday.
The Bavarians set the tone early in their quest for an 11th straight league title, outclassing the reigning Europa League champions, who meet Real Madrid in the Super Cup next week, with new recruit Sadio Mane on target.
This was Mane’s Bundesliga debut, who scored in Bayern’s German Super Cup victory over RB Leipzig last week, was one of five different scorers in a frantic first half that saw all of Bayern’s goals come in a period of 38 minutes.
German player of the year, Joshua Kimmich began the scoring with a daring free kick that struck the post, and Benjamin Pavard added a second goal six minutes later, immediately before Eintracht’s Tuta hit the post.
Thomas Muller may have had one of the season’s worst misses when, from close range, he struck the post and then failed to score on the rebound.
But Mane fared much better in the 29th minute, scoring a 3-0 goal from a Serge Gnabry pass. The Eintracht defence was in shambles as he sent Muller through to set up Jamal Musiala for their fourth goal with a simple tap-in in the 35th minute.
Gnabry scored two minutes before halftime, putting to rest any concerns that Bayern might struggle in attack following the transfer of striker Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona.
Eintracht, who will compete in the Champions League this season, were more active after the interval as Bayern slowed down, and they capitalised on Manuel Neuer’s blunder outside the box to score in the 64th minute via Randal Kolo Muani.
Musiala, though, completed the scoring seven minutes from the end of the game by converting Leroy Sane’s pass into his second goal of the night to complete the onslaught.
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.