Soccer Football - Bundesliga - VfL Wolfsburg v Bayern Munich - Volkswagen Arena, Wolfsburg, Germany - August 25, 2024 Bayern Munich's Serge Gnabry scores their third goal REUTERS/Carmen Jaspersen
(Reuters) -A late goal by Serge Gnabry secured Bayern Munich a 3-2 Bundesliga victory at VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday and gave their new coach Vincent Kompany a winning start.
Wolfsburg began brightly but it was the visitors who made the better chances in the first half, taking the lead after fine work by Frenchman Sacha Boey down the right to set up Jamal Musiala for an easy tap-in.
Bayern made a poor start to the second half, however, as they gave away a penalty when Tiago Tomas was brought down by Boey, and Lovro Majer made no mistake from the spot.
Wolfsburg created all kinds of trouble for the visitors' defence and, in the 55th minute, Patrick Wimmer squared the ball for Majer, who slotted it home to score his second goal.
Winger Jakub Kaminski's own goal brought Bayern on level terms before Gnabry, assisted by Harry Kane, struck into the corner in the 82nd minute to secure all three points for the Bavarians.
"We are very happy and are happy to take it. It's good for morale and self-confidence," Gnabry said.
"It was a very exhausting Sunday afternoon. The equaliser straight after halftime knocked our socks off a bit. Then we were down 2-1, which made it even more difficult. But at the end of the day, we were rewarded and won 3-2."
With Kane and new signing Michael Olise looking lively and frequently finding promising positions, Bayern created a host of other chances, but Wolfsburg goalkeeper Kamil Grabara made some brilliant saves to deny the duo.
Thomas Mueller, who equalled a club record with his 709th competitive appearance for Bayern, breathed life back into his side after coming on as a substitute in the 65th minute and was decisive in their win.
The record German champions, who were upstaged last season by Bayer Leverkusen, appointed former Burnley manager Kompany to succeed Thomas Tuchel after their disappointing third-place finish last campaign.
Wolfsburg boss Ralph Hasenhuettl was proud of his side after they produced a spirited performance.
"We had a few chances in the second half. We've developed nicely over the last few months. We played fantastically in the second half," Hasenhuettl said.
"What we can do better is to score the third goal. You can't defend everything away against Bayern. We threw ourselves into every duel."
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond and Clare Fallon)
