One name had dominated the international football scene in the past few days: Thomas Tuchel. But then a goalkeeper stole the show from the new man in the Bayern coaching bench in a downright grotesque way. Gregor Kobel, Borussia Dortmund’s goalkeeper, missed the goal as he ran out and the ball, played well forward by Dayot Upamecano from his own half and touched very lightly by the Swiss goalie, continued to roll into the goal. Bayern led 1-0 after twelve minutes. And that didn’t require any great coaching skills.

What happened after this momentous faux pas is typical for FC Bayern, no matter what the coach’s name is. They followed up immediately, consistently and emphatically exploited the uncertainty of the previously brave Dortmund team and made everything clear early on. After a corner kick, Thomas Müller extended a header from Mathijs de Ligt to make it 2-0 (18′). And another five minutes later it was 3-0. Kobel failed Leroy Sane’s shot test, defended insufficiently and was powerless against Thomas Müller’s dust-off.

Seemingly effortless

From FC Bayern’s point of view, the German football classic, which was announced as a hard working day for everyone involved, turned out to be an apparently effortless affair. The record champion acted as usual on Tuchel’s debut, kept things under control and, which was a first noticeable difference to predecessor Julian Nagelsmann, exercised a little more caution. The meticulous data collectors had already calculated during the game that it now took 21 seconds for Bayern to regain the ball instead of the previous 12. The detail could be interpreted as a calculated risk.

After the break, Kingsley Coman increased the lead to 4-0 (50′) after a brilliant counter-attack he had initiated himself. Dortmund came back from a penalty converted by Emre Can (72′) and Donyell Malen (90′) against in the closing stages somewhat unfocused hosts still scored two goals. Even if the match was over, Tuchel will not have liked it. Bayern are back in the lead with a two-point lead and the new coach only needed one match to do so. But he was helped.