The DFL Super Cup rarely provides any pointers for the forthcoming Bundesliga season, but what this year's curtain-raiser seemed to indicate is that maybe last season is still happening. The match-up between Bayer Leverkusen and Stuttgart - last season's top two, with the former having won both league and DFB Pokal - was a reminder of an extraordinary 2023-24 campaign, as was the bristling intensity of Saturday night's fixture, uncommon for such a nominal showpiece.
And the manner was everything. Even though it took a penalty shootout for Leverkusen to lift the fifth major trophy of the club's 120-year history (and the third in the last four months under Xabi Alonso), the way in which Die Werkself got there suggested that we are probably not looking at a one-hit-wonder. They played all but the first 37 minutes against Stuttgart with 10 men at the BayArena - debutant Martin Terrier was sent off for an ill-considered, studs-up lunge - and trailed midway through the second half when Deniz Undav gave the visitors the lead with his first touch.
Yet there was no hint of panic, no launching it in the mixer. Leverkusen passed their way around their opponents looking for an opening, even with time running out, until Schick coolly sidefooted in after a dazzling move with little more than a minute to go in normal time. It was stirring stuff, and a reminder that Leverkusen are the team to beat. They never are beaten by German teams these days, their only defeat in 53 games last season coming to Serie A's Atalanta in the Europa League final.
This story is from the August 23, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the August 23, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Dalzell seals historic win off last ball after Armitage's blunder
Ireland secured a dramatic coup against England in the third one-day international at Stormont, overcoming the loss of three wickets in Mady Villiers' final over as Alana Dalzell struck her first ball for four to pull off a three-wicket win.
Abbott mops up after Short and Head run riot
England came undone against Australia, falling to a 28-run defeat in the first T20I.
Chelsea Women opt for surprise CEO choice
Chelsea have appointed a media expert with no experience of running a football club as the first chief executive officer of their women's team.
Rahm's Ryder Cup future in doubt over refusal to pay fines
Spaniard needs to play three more DP World Tour events this year to stayin the frame
Getting shirty Unearthing lost treasure is easier than finding that red South Africa top
There is a lot that's wrong with cricket at the moment. The longest and oldest format is in a painful death spiral. Franchise leagues are cannibalising the game as the entire ecosystem teeters on collapse. James Vince's cover drive is still not a regular feature of the England side.
Cut in interest rates expected as US inflation continues to soften
Inflation continued to soften in the US last month, falling to its lowest level since February 2021 as the Federal Reserve prepares to cut interest rates for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
Typhoon death toll passes 140 in Vietnam as Hanoi flooded
Thousands of people in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, who live close to the swollen Red River have been evacuated as its waters flooded the streets days after Typhoon Yagi battered the north of the country, with the death toll rising to at least 143 people.
'So many similarities' West Bank killing recalls death in 2003
When Cindy and Craig Corrie heard about the death of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, the American-Turkish woman killed at a protest in the occupied West Bank last Friday, it reopened a 21-yearold wound. \"You feel the ripping apart again of your own family when you know that's happening to another family,\" Craig said.
Bring in army to protect us, urge Italy's medics
Doctors' and nurses' unions in Italy have called for authorities to consider bringing the army into hospitals in response to an increase in attacks by patients and their relatives that provoked outrage across the country.
Mexican senate gives green light to controversial judicial changes
Mexico's senate has given final approval to a sweeping overhaul of the judiciary, which will make all judges stand for election - a change that critics fear will politicise the judiciary and threaten democracy.