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Bayern professionals cheer with their new coach Julian Nagelsmann
Photo: Martin Meissner / AP
Marco Rose was looking for "some word between happy and deserved" to describe FC Bayern's victory in the Supercup.
But he didn't find it, and the coaching colleague Julian Nagelsmann from FC Bayern was of no help to the BVB coach: "I can't think of anything either."
The Supercup of German football, the game between champions and cup winners almost at the beginning of the season, was for many years something that the right name was sought for.
"The first title of the season", well, that's true, but that is perhaps a bit exaggerated because this competition is almost still in the past season, it is the harvest of the previous season.
In the past, some people rated the Supercup closer to a better test match than to a title worthy of a letterhead.
But that changed with the Supercup 2021 at the latest.
For the professionals on the pitch and also on the sidelines, at Rose and Nagelsmann, the early comparison of the German industry leaders was a very serious matter.
Both coaches are new to their club, Rose replaced cup winner coach Edin Terzić, Nagelsmann Hansi Flick, who won every title with FC Bayern in a short time.
And now both coaches wanted to successfully get on track with a first title.
The moments after the 1: 2 goal in the 64th minute by Marco Reus looked more like a cup semi-final or an important Bundesliga match than after a competition that was underestimated.
Erling Haaland and also Jude Bellingham, who was noticed before the kick-off, both animated the 25,000 fans in the Dortmund stadium with wild arm movements.
"We had them hooked," said Rose to the ten minutes between the 1: 2 and 1: 3, in which the Dortmunders and also the opponent completely exhausted themselves.
Many other important tasks may still come, the season is long, but the Supercup was here and now, no sign of sparing.
With his ambition, his aggressiveness and later his credibly widespread disappointment, BVB upgraded the championship's victory again.
First win and first title for Nagelsmann
The success, which is much closer to deserving than to being happy, gives Julian Nagelsmann especially pleasant days.
Waiting more for his first win with FC Bayern might have made work more difficult, perhaps the minutes would soon have been counted for him too, how long he has been without a win.
The tension was definitely noticeable in Nagelsmann - and it was released when the new Munich coach cheered as vigorously as he could when Lewandowski's outstanding header hit 1-0 (41st minute).
For Nagelsmann, this Supercup wasn't just a disgraceful event anyway.
For the still young coach, 34 years old, who has long been an old hand in the business (since 2016 as head coach in the Bundesliga), this test of strength and the outcome was also a relief: Nagelsmann now has a title for the first time in his career won a professional team.
He dutifully pointed out that the title belongs more to his predecessor Hansi Flick, because the new DFB national coach enabled qualification for the game on Tuesday in Dortmund through the championship.
But Nagelsmann also said: “I'm still happy.
I think I can do that too, I see the Supercup as important. "
His share in the success was not that small either.
Compared to the 1-1 draw in the Bundesliga opener at Borussia Mönchengladbach, there was clear progress in several areas.
It started with the central defenders Dayot Upamecano and Niklas Süle, who made far fewer mistakes than four days earlier.
Nagelsmann had both trained earlier, Upamecano in Leipzig, Süle once in Hoffenheim, under Nagelsmann they matured into top players.
In any case, in Dortmund they were better coordinated.
Erling Haaland seldom got behind their defensive line at speed, with or without the ball.
Haaland, the goal scorer on duty, remained without a goal, that alone is a success for a defense.
Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka also improved.
Nagelsmann said that he had worked with them with video material, showed them a better positional play, which also made the counter-pressing more efficient.
Bayern forced BVB to make mistakes, which ultimately resulted in the sixth Dortmund bankruptcy in a competitive game against Munich - and in the defeat in the Supercup.
The balance of power in German football will thus remain.
Or rather: the discussions about a possible change in the balance of power fell silent again after they had arisen ludicrously early after the first game day.
A win in a friendly match could never have done that.