Berlin, Aug 10 (IANS): Treble winner Bayern Munich won the first Bundesliga football match under coach Pep Guardiola as Arjen Robben, Mario Mandzukic and David Alaba sealed a 3-1 triumph over a courageous Monchengladbach.
The Bavarians started their title defence with success at the outsold Allianz Arena to kick off the 51st Bundesliga season on Friday, reports Xinhua.
The hosts wasted no time to take over with the starting whistle while Monchengladbach staged a well-positioned defence to focus on counter attacks. Nonetheless, the visitors were unable avoid an early deficit when Robben utilized a neat lob into the path by Franck Ribery to slot home from penalty area with 12 minutes into the game.
Monchengladbach lost control of things, as Bayern were able to double the lead just three minutes later through Mandzuckic, who made use of a rebound from very close range to beat goalkeeper Marc Andre ter Stegen.
Bayern dominated but yet Monchengladbach were not hapless as Manuel Neuer had to deny Max Kruses shot on target with a reflex. However, minutes later Neuer looked lost when his teammate Dante cleared the ball into his own goal to reduce the lead to 2-1 six minutes before the break.
The record champions had chances to restore the lead through Mandzukic and Toni Kroos but ter Stegen's saves left the door open for the Foals.
At the second half ter Stegen again denied Kroos just to see Alvaro Dominguez causing a handball penalty minutes later. However, Thomas Mueller stepped up for the penalty, which was saved by ter Stegen. Dominguez tried to clear the rebound but instead he caused another handball penalty. On this occasion, Alaba converted the penalty into bottom left to make it 3-1 on the scoreboards. Thus, Bayern finished their first workday with a victory whereas Monchengladbach suffered the first loss of the season.
"We are satisfied but we need more practise to gain more confidence," Guardiola said.
"It was a great match with many opportunities but we left too many chances unused," Monchengladbach coach Lucien Favre said.
The following matches are scheduled for Saturday: Hoffenheim meet Nuremberg, Leverkusen face Freiburg, Hannover see Wolfsburg, Augsburg encounter Dortmund, newly promoted Berlin host Frankfurt and newly promoted Braunschweig clash with Bremen.