Bayern Munich kicked off the defence of their Bundesliga title on an impressive note as the Bavarians thrashed Frankfurt 6-1 on Friday.
Joshua Kimmich opened the scoring, firing a free-kick through the smoke from the Frankfurt ultras’ pyrotechnics to wrong-foot Eintracht goalkeeper Kevin Trapp after just five minutes. Shortly after, Benjamin Pavard fired home unmarked in the box from a corner, with Frankfurt defenders all caught following the ball.
After their goals, both Kimmich and Pavard ran demonstratively over to celebrate with Bayern’s set-piece coach Dino Topmöller, suggesting some work had been done on free-kick and corner routines in training beforehand.
The next three goals all involved Mane, first heading home from a Serge Gnabry cross, then winning the ball ahead of a Jamal Musiala tap-in, and then winning another 50-50 battle with Frankfurt captain Sebastian Rode to help set up Gnabry for Bayern’s fifth.
Frankfurt scored a consolation goal through Kolo Muani, the new French arrival from Nantes capitalizing on a rare Manuel Neuer error to slide the ball into the empty net.
But it changed nothing as Musiala, who ran rings around Frankfurt’s midfield in the first half, capped the rout with a second goal late on.
