Bayern opened title defence with 5:1 win, Manuel Neuer celebrated 600th match for the club
Bayern München opened the 2026/27 Bundesliga season in a way that will further strengthen Vincent Kompany's team's status as the leading favourite for the title. The reigning German champions defeated VfB Stuttgart 5:1 on Friday, 28 August, at the Allianz Arena, in the official opening match of the championship. According to the Bundesliga report, Bayern's scorers were Dayot Upamecano, Michael Olise, Aleksandar Pavlović and Luis Díaz, while Josha Vagnoman, in addition to scoring for Stuttgart, also scored an own goal. The result was convincing, but the course of the match was not entirely one-sided: Stuttgart equalised at 1:1 early in the second half, after which Bayern took complete control within a short period. The evening also had a strong historical dimension because captain Manuel Neuer made his 600th official appearance for Bayern and became only the fifth player in the club's history to reach that milestone.
Upamecano opened the season, Stuttgart threatened before the break
Bayern started the match with Neuer in goal, while the back four consisted of Konrad Laimer, Dayot Upamecano, Kim Min-jae and Alphonso Davies. Joshua Kimmich and Aleksandar Pavlović controlled the centre of the pitch, while Michael Olise, Nathaniel Brown and Luis Díaz operated behind Harry Kane. According to the Bundesliga's official match sheet, Stuttgart arrived for the away match with Fabian Bredlow in goal and Deniz Undav as captain, while Dženan Pejčinović was also in the starting line-up. Despite the final result, the visitors did not come merely to defend their own penalty area. Tiago Tomás hit the woodwork in the first half and showed that Stuttgart could punish any mistake by the hosts.
The first goal, however, came at the other end. In the 21st minute, Kimmich delivered a precise corner and Upamecano headed the ball into the net for 1:0. The Bundesliga singled out Kimmich as one of the key players of the match precisely because of his ability to create scoring situations from set pieces and open play. Bayern retained their narrow lead until the break, but without complete security, because Stuttgart remained aggressive enough to prevent the match from losing its competitive tension. Kompany's team had more control, but failed to turn the first half into an early decision on the scoreboard. That changed only after Stuttgart's equaliser.
Vagnoman equalised, and Bayern responded within just a few minutes
In the 52nd minute, Josha Vagnoman scored for 1:1 and briefly reset the match. Bayern's response was almost immediate. Just three minutes later, Kimmich found Michael Olise, and the French international finished the move for 2:1. It was his first Bundesliga goal of the new season and also a continuation of his good start to the competitive year after he had scored a week earlier in the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup against Borussia Dortmund. According to the league's official report, Kimmich therefore registered two assists in the opening match of the championship.
Soon after Olise's goal, Bayern increased their advantage. A sharp attack down the left ended with an unfortunate reaction from Vagnoman, who deflected the ball into his own net for 3:1. In the space of only a few minutes after equalising, Stuttgart therefore found themselves needing to make up a two-goal deficit against a team that had already established its rhythm and had begun to make increasing use of the space between the visitors' lines. Bayern continued to apply pressure and were not satisfied merely with controlling the result. A later Olise goal was disallowed for offside, but that did not change the direction of the closing stages.
Saibari brought fresh energy and two assists from the bench
Ismael Saibari played an important role in the final phase after entering the match in the 61st minute in place of Nathaniel Brown. The newly arrived midfielder quickly showed why Kompany sees him as an additional option in the attacking part of the team. In the 82nd minute, he created space inside the penalty area and played in Pavlović, who scored from close range for 4:1. In the second minute of stoppage time, Saibari then also assisted Luis Díaz, who calmly finished a counterattack for the final 5:1. After the match, the Bundesliga particularly highlighted the fact that Kimmich and Saibari had two assists each, which accurately describes the breadth of Bayern's creativity at the start of the season.
It is also interesting that Harry Kane was not among the scorers in a match in which Bayern scored five goals. The English striker remained the focal point of the attack, but the distribution of goals showed just how dangerous Kompany's team is from other lines as well. Centre-back Upamecano scored, followed by winger Olise, midfielder Pavlović and Díaz from the left, while the fifth goal came from an own goal. Such a distribution is particularly important in a season in which Bayern are once again competing on several fronts and in which squad depth will be just as valuable as the individual quality of the biggest stars. After the match, Kompany emphasised that the team wants to continue playing with the energy and intensity that characterised its best phases in previous seasons.
Stuttgart once again had no answer against Bayern
The clash at the Allianz Arena carried additional significance because Bayern and Stuttgart had met in several important matches during the previous season. In April 2026, Bayern secured the German championship title four rounds before the end of the season precisely with a 4:2 victory against Stuttgart. In doing so, Kompany won his second consecutive Bundesliga title on the bench of the Munich club, while Bayern confirmed their status as the most decorated team in German football. In its preview of the new season, the official Bundesliga states that Bayern are chasing a third consecutive league title in 2026/27, which would also be their third under Kompany's leadership.
An even more important previous meeting was played on 23 May in Berlin. Bayern defeated Stuttgart 3:0 in the DFB-Pokal final, with Harry Kane scoring all three goals in the second half. According to data from the German Football Association, that triumph gave Bayern their 21st DFB-Pokal and completed a domestic double. Stuttgart entered that final as the defending trophy holders, but after a good start to the match they had no answer to Bayern's quality in the closing stages. Only three months later, Sebastian Hoeneß's team again remained in the match for a long time, but once again they were punished when Bayern raised the tempo.
For that reason, the 5:1 result is not only a good start to the new season but also a continuation of Bayern's highly favourable run in head-to-head matches against Stuttgart. At the same time, such a defeat does not necessarily have to be a realistic indicator of the rest of Stuttgart's season. The team had periods in Munich in which it was able to threaten the hosts, and the goal for 1:1 was the result of a more active approach after the break. The problem arose when Stuttgart lost control of transitions after the equaliser and allowed Bayern to create excess space in a short period. Against a team featuring Olise, Díaz, Kimmich and Kane, such mistakes are punished almost immediately.
Neuer's 600th appearance: another record in a career that has lasted since 2011
Although the five goals attracted most of the sporting attention, Bayern's most important individual milestone of the evening belonged to Manuel Neuer. The club confirmed that the match against Stuttgart was his 600th official appearance in a Bayern shirt. Before him, only Thomas Müller, Sepp Maier, Oliver Kahn and Gerd Müller had reached that mark. Neuer therefore joined a group of players whose names are directly associated with different eras of Bayern's greatest successes.
Neuer joined Bayern from Schalke in the summer of 2011 and has been captain of the first team since 2017. In May 2026, the club extended his contract until 30 June 2027, meaning that the 40-year-old goalkeeper is continuing his 16th year in Munich in the current season. According to official club data, he had made 597 official appearances before the contract extension, and the figure of 600 arrived right at the beginning of the new competitive campaign. During his Bayern era, he has won 13 German championship titles and two Champions Leagues, while he has lifted the DFB-Pokal six times with the club. He had previously won another DFB-Pokal with Schalke, giving him a total of seven in his career.
His importance to Bayern is not measured solely by trophies and number of matches. Over more than a decade, Neuer has become one of the symbols of the modern style of goalkeeping, with an emphasised role for the goalkeeper in build-up play and controlling space far from the goal line. In May, when announcing the new contract, Bayern stressed that even at the age of 40 Neuer remains an important part of a clearly defined goalkeeping structure that also includes Jonas Urbig and Sven Ulreich. For a club entering another season with the ambition of winning every domestic trophy and competing for the Champions League, the captain's experience remains an important element of stability.
After the victory against Stuttgart, Neuer said that this kind of start to the season was exactly what the team had hoped for. The only thing that spoiled his anniversary evening was the fact that he did not keep a clean sheet, but after conceding Bayern responded in a way that coaches usually consider more important than the statistic itself. Within three minutes, they regained the lead, soon increased their advantage, and then completely closed out the match in the final stages. For a team defending the title, precisely that response to a brief period of difficulty may have been the most important message of the opening round.
Kompany's Bayern already have their first trophy of the season
The success against Stuttgart came less than a week after the first official trophy of the season. On 22 August in Dortmund, Bayern defeated Borussia 2:1 in the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup. According to the club's official data, Nathaniel Brown scored for 1:0 in the 28th minute, Olise made it 2:0 in first-half stoppage time, and Fábio Silva reduced the deficit in the 75th minute. Bayern thereby won their 12th trophy in that competition and entered the league campaign with their competitive form already confirmed.
The combination of the Supercup and the convincing league victory is also important because preparations for the 2026/27 season were not entirely conventional. Some players returned after summer international commitments, and the coach had to establish automatisms relatively quickly in a team that had undergone changes in its squad. Despite that, Brown was given a responsible attacking role, Saibari immediately began to make an impact from the bench, and established key players such as Kimmich and Olise look ready for the new season. The first two official appearances therefore offered more than just results: they showed that Bayern already have several different sources of creativity and finishing.
That, of course, does not mean that the title race has been decided after one round. The Bundesliga season lasts 34 matches, and during the autumn Bayern will have to balance domestic commitments with the European schedule. However, the opening match against Stuttgart sent a clear sporting message to their rivals. The defending champions did not start cautiously, nor did they show signs of complacency after winning the double. On the contrary, after their opponents equalised, they increased the tempo and ended the evening with five goals.
The next challenges are coming quickly
The schedule leaves Bayern little time to dwell on the convincing victory. According to the official club calendar, the team travel to VfL Osnabrück on 2 September in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, before visiting Schalke in Gelsenkirchen in the Bundesliga on 5 September. Already in the first weeks of the season, Kompany will therefore have to distribute minutes between established first-team players and players seeking larger roles. The performances of Saibari and Pavlović against Stuttgart give him additional options, as does the return of players who were not fully ready for the start of the championship.
For Stuttgart, the defeat in Munich will primarily be a test of their reaction. In the second round, according to the Bundesliga schedule, VfB host Köln on 4 September. Sebastian Hoeneß's team can take at least one positive from the opening round: for part of the match they managed to seriously disrupt Bayern, but they will need to find a way to make similar periods of play last considerably longer. Conceding five goals and completely collapsing after the score reached 1:1 are warnings of how quickly a match against a top opponent can turn in the opposite direction.
Bayern, on the other hand, emerge from the opening round with a maximum return, a positive goal difference of four and additional symbolic capital from Neuer's milestone. Five different sources of goals, including Stuttgart's own-goal situation, two Kimmich assists and two Saibari assists from the bench provide Kompany with numerous reasons for satisfaction. Even more importantly, the reigning champions showed that they can cope with a moment in which an opponent restores balance to the match. After 1:1, Bayern did not lose their rhythm but raised it - and in doing so opened their title defence with a result that will define the opening round of the Bundesliga.
Sources:
- Bundesliga - official report of the Bayern München - VfB Stuttgart match, scorers, goal minutes and line-ups (link)
- FC Bayern München - official report on the 5:1 victory against Stuttgart and the course of the match (link)
- FC Bayern München - announcement about Manuel Neuer's 600th official match for the club and the historical context of the milestone (link)
- FC Bayern München - official announcement about the extension of Manuel Neuer's contract until 2027 and information about his career (link)
- DFB - report on the 2026 DFB-Pokal final in which Bayern defeated Stuttgart 3:0 and completed the domestic double (link)
- Bundesliga - overview of Bayern's title defence and status ahead of the 2026/27 season (link)
- FC Bayern München - official information on winning the 2026 Franz Beckenbauer Supercup against Borussia Dortmund (link)