Bayern Munich have secured the first minor silverware of the 2026/27 season. The German champions won the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup on Saturday evening, beating runners-up Borussia Dortmund 2-1 (2-0) away from home. Nathaniel Brown (28th minute) and Michael Olise (45+1) gave FCB a deserved two-goal lead, while an improved BVB could only manage a consolation through substitute Fabio Silva (75) after the break.
What stood out in the Supercup at Signal Iduna Park? SPOX have picked out four takeaways.
Bayern Munich beat BVB in the Supercup: Manuel Neuer remains a source of uncertainty on the ball for FCB
Risk has always been part of Manuel Neuer's game and a major reason why he became one of the best goalkeepers of all time. That includes the danger that comes with his work outside traditional goalkeeping actions, especially when the ball is at his feet. Plenty of times, he has used that ability to get things moving and make the game easier for his side in possession.
Still, the moments when Neuer puts team-mates or himself under pressure and hands the opposition a needless chance in front of goal are becoming more frequent.
The clearest recent example is certainly his fatal misplaced pass straight to Arda Güler that gifted Real Madrid an early lead in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final in April. In the Supercup win in Dortmund, Bayern's goalkeeper again had two actions he could easily have avoided.
After 15 minutes, Neuer misplaced a pass to centre-back Min-jae Kim and almost offered BVB the chance to take the lead. He owed Kim thanks for reacting brilliantly and making sure nobody had to ask questions about the pass afterwards.
Getty ImagesThen, shortly before full time, Neuer had to rescue himself from an unnecessarily awkward situation. After a back-pass from Kim, he tried to let the onrushing Jobe Bellingham run into empty space, but the feint behind his standing leg went wrong and suddenly gave Bellingham the chance to level late on. Neuer reacted superbly, diving at the ball to stop the Dortmund player getting his shot away. Without the earlier lapse in concentration, though, he would never have needed the recovery in the first place.
Now, as he again hinted on Saturday, Neuer may be entering his final season as a professional footballer. Bayern already know they have his successor in the squad in Jonas Urbig, and the 23-year-old is expected to get a little more playing time this season than he did in the previous one to ease him into the role. Neuer is still meant to start the biggest matches, but his work on the ball is becoming a source of uncertainty with increasing regularity. Regularly enough to give Urbig a chance in the big games too?
One thing is also true: Neuer's reflexes on the line remain absolutely world class, and they keep bailing him out. The best example on Saturday came early in the second half, when he produced a brilliant save from new BVB signing Konstantinos Karetsas and his awkward close-range effort.
BVB v Bayern Munich, Supercup takeaways: A trump card for FCB's squad depth
Bayern Munich signed Nathaniel Brown as a left-back, but he offers options not only in his natural position, but in two other roles as well: as a No. 6 and, as pre-season made clear, as a No. 10.
That was where Brown lined up, slightly surprisingly, on Saturday evening in Dortmund as the central man behind striker Harry Kane. Jamal Musiala, who is suffering from absences as a result of a neurological dysfunction and had therefore collapsed on the pitch in each of the previous two friendlies against Leipzig and Heidenheim, was not in the squad for the Supercup. New signing Ismael Saibari was not yet ready for a place in the starting XI, so Tom Bischof had actually been expected in Bayern's No. 10 role.
Instead, Brown got the nod in the unfamiliar role, one Kompany clearly believes suits him perfectly: "For us, the spaces of the full-backs are sometimes similar to those of a No. 10. He is unbelievably good between the spaces. Whether he plays as a full-back or as a No. 10 - today it helped us because Serge Gnabry, Lennart Karl and Jamal Musiala were missing," Kompany explained to Sky after the 2-1 win about Brown's positioning.
Getty ImagesThe Germany international certainly turned in a decent display as a No. 10, even if one or two moments predictably did not quite click. Brown has only been at FCB for a few weeks and still has to absorb the routines, especially in an unfamiliar position. With his eye-catching opener, the 23-year-old played a decisive part in winning his first trophy with Bayern and showed that his signing adds another trump card to the record champions' squad depth.
Brown is not the only one with that kind of flexibility. Munich's other full-backs offer it too. Konrad Laimer can play on either defensive flank and, like Brown, also as a No. 6, No. 8 or No. 10. Josip Stanisic is just as comfortable on either side and can also fill in at centre-back if needed.
BVB v Bayern Munich, Supercup takeaways: An intriguing Kovac tweak also brings disadvantages for BVB
Niko Kovac is shuffling his wing-backs around at the moment. The pattern from pre-season was there again from kick-off against Bayern: left-footer Daniel Svensson started on the right, while right-footer Julian Ryerson operated on the left.
"Every now and then we always need a player out wide who occupies someone. If we play left on the left and right on the right, we go around the outside. Then the cross usually comes too, but this way you always have the option of moving inside and then ultimately having what the big teams have with their wingers, that they always cut inside and either lay one on or can shoot themselves from there. That was the idea," Kovac explained afterwards about the thinking behind his tweak.
Against Bayern, the idea showed promise. Dortmund created danger in the first half through a Ryerson cross from the left half-space, bent towards the far post with his strong right foot. Ramy Bensebaini glanced the ball into the net with the tips of his hair, but he was narrowly offside and the goal did not count.
Getty ImagesAt half-time, though, Kovac changed it, sending Ryerson and Svensson back to their usual flanks. "Because we saw that we had to change something," Kovac said, before adding: "And I think it also did us good." BVB certainly applied more pressure in the second half, looked more threatening in attack and got in behind more often down the flanks.
That led to the goal for 2-1, among other moments, when Svensson drove to the byline on the left and cleverly pulled the ball back for goalscorer Fabio Silva. The downside of Kovac's first-half tweak is that moves like that do not come around as often when Svensson and Ryerson swap sides.
One other drawback showed up in a big chance before the break: Bensebaini drilled a low ball in from the left and found Svensson, who had moved in from the right, near the penalty spot. The Swede was positioned in a way that forced him onto his weaker right foot, he failed to get the timing right in a clearly unfamiliar action and swung at thin air. Ryerson would surely have made more of that opening with his stronger right foot.
Supercup takeaways for BVB: Statement from a sale candidate
The transfer rumours around Serhou Guirassy have died down noticeably in recent weeks and, as things stand, the striker looks set to spend another season at Borussia Dortmund. In the 2-1 defeat against Bayern, though, Guirassy's evening followed the pattern of the difficult spells from last season: the 30-year-old worked very hard, but was barely involved in the game and had no dangerous moment.
After a little over an hour, Kovac took Guirassy off and looked for more spark in Dortmund's box play with Fabio Silva. The Portuguese seized his chance and showed the encouraging signs he had already produced here and there in his first BVB year. For the goal that made it 2-1 from BVB's point of view, he dropped a little deeper in clever fashion and then finished ruthlessly from close range. That is likely to have boosted his chances of more playing time. But will Silva stay in Dortmund at all?
Getty ImagesSeveral clubs are said to be circling the 24-year-old, with Betis Sevilla most recently considered the most interested above all. Silva himself is reportedly not necessarily planning to stay at Borussia, and BVB's sporting decision-makers would probably let him go just one year after his arrival if a suitable offer came in.
At the very least, Silva's impact off the bench in the Supercup has fuelled hopes of a breakthrough in his second year in Dortmund. And this late in the summer transfer window, BVB may now think even more carefully about whether they could still bring in a suitable replacement if Silva were to leave.