BERLIN —
Bayern Munich’s bid to reclaim the Bundesliga throne from Bayer Leverkusen got off to a hard-fought 3-2 win at Wolfsburg on Sunday.
Serge Gnabry scored the winner late on after the Bavarian club had allowed Wolfsburg to turn the game around and take a 2-1 lead early in the second half.
Vincent Kompany made a triumphant debut as a coach in Germany’s top flight. And a Bayern legend made the difference: Thomas Müller came on to set a club record with 474 Bundesliga appearances.
The 34-year-old Müller made an immediate contribution after coming on in the 65th minute, precipitating Jakub Kaminski’s own goal to equalise from a corner.
Müller was also involved in the creation of the play that led to Gnabry’s goal in the 82nd minute. He set up the ball that Harry Kane passed to Gnabry.
Wolfsburg started better, taking the ball away from the visitors. But Bayern settled in and Jamal Musiala broke the deadlock in the 20th minute with Sacha Boey’s goal.
Although Bayern’s dominance was clear, Wolfsburg managed to equalise with a penalty from Lovro Majer after a foul by Boey on Tiago Tomás after the restart.
In the 55th, Patrick Wimmer won the ball from Kim Min-jae and passed to Majer for his second goal of the afternoon.
Last season’s second division champions St. Pauli made their return to the top flight against visiting Heidenheim.
