Bayern Munich 3-1 Hoffenheim: Bundesliga champions win first league game under Niko Kovac
Bayern Munich began their defence of the Bundesliga title – and Niko Kovac’s reign as manager – with a 3-1 victory at home to Hoffenheim.
Kovac succeeded Jupp Heynckes following his retirement shortly after they won their sixth successive German league title, and after leading them to DFL-Supercup glory against his former club Eintracht Frankfurt, the Croatian has delivered their first Bundesliga win of the new term.
After a disappointing summer for German football in which the 2014 World Cup winners were unexpectedly knocked out at the group stage, Thomas Muller needed only 23 minutes to give Bayern the lead.
An equalising goal from Adam Szalai and two disallowed efforts threatened to undermine Kovac’s hopes of continuing his winning start, but the manager introduced Arjen Robben after Kingsley Coman was lost to injury and, after Robert Lewandowski’s penalty, the Dutchman secured all three points.
Robben and James Rodriguez had been named on the bench, with Kovac preferring Coman and Franck Ribery, but the manager otherwise selected the XI that was expected.
In an encouraging start, Muller scored in the opening game of the Bundesliga season for the third time in five years after, amid pressure on his debut, Hoffenheim’s Kasim Nuhu conceded a corner.
Joshua Kimmich delivered a cross and the forward jumped to send a powerful, close-range header beyond goalkeeper Oliver Baumann and into the back of the net.
Coman was consistently impressing but on the stroke of half-time was lost to injury. Having repeatedly stretched Hoffenheim’s defence he was left in a pile by Nico Schulz’s aggressive challenge, which appeared to injure the winger’s left ankle, leading to Robben coming on.
Coman’s absence often told and, after Robben threatened in the second half, Szalai impressed in firing the visitors level in the 57th minute, when after beating Jerome Boateng he powerfully finished across goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
Bayern were awarded a penalty when Hoffenheim substitute Havard Nordtveit brought down Ribery but, when Baumann saved from Lewandowski and Robben scored from the rebound, the VAR intervened and ordered the penalty be retaken. On that occasion, in the 82nd minute, the Poland striker scored.
It was in the 86th minute when home substitute Leon Goretzka found the back of the net when his shot appeared to take a significant deflection, but the VAR ruled Muller had handled and again disallowed.
Muller then set up Robben, in the 90th minute, and from in front of goal he struck and found the top left corner to put victory beyond doubt.
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
.
