Holders Bayern started with a draw

Robert Lewandowski equalised as defending champions Bayern Munich were held to a 1-1 draw at Borussia Moenchengladbach in a hard-fought opening game of the new Bundesliga season on Friday.

Bayern’s new head coach Julian Nagelsmann is still waiting for his first victory after three defeats and a draw in pre-season friendlies.

Bayern were missing injured France defender Benjamin Pavard, whose place went to reserve left-back Josip Stanisic for only his second Bundesliga appearance. Gladbach tore open the Bayern defence after just six minutes when Patrick Herrmann sprinted clear and squared to Lars Stindl, who could not get a shot away.

Bayern fell behind when Canadian left-back Alphonso Davies lost the ball on halfway.

The ball was moved to Stindl, who flicked his pass onto Plea, who was unmarked and fired past Neuer.

At the other end, only a stunning reflex save by Sommer denied Lewandowski from point-blank range.

However, the Bundesliga’s record goal-scorer for a single season struck just before half-time to make it 1-1 at the break. When Joshua Kimmich fired in a corner, Lewandowski slipped his marker and fired past Sommer, picking up when he left off last season when he scored a Bundesliga record 41 goals in 2020/21.

“It wasn’t perfect football from us,” Lewandowski told broadcaster Sat1.

“We made a lot of mistakes, but the first game is over, now we can look ahead.”