MUNICH: Dani Olmo scored a hat-trick to guide RB Leipzig to a 3-0 victory in the DFB Super Cup over champions Bayern Munich on Saturday, spoiling record signing Harry Kane’s debut for the Bavarians.

England captain Kane had signed a four-year deal amid a media frenzy only hours earlier and came off the bench in the second half but could not prevent a season-opening defeat against the DFB Pokal winners.

The hosts’ performance left coach Thomas Tuchel fuming, saying it was as if the team had done no work in their four-week pre-season.

“It is a big problem because it feels as if we had done nothing in the past four weeks,” Tuchel said.

“I cannot explain it. It was just not enough in every department. I have just no idea why. There is no relation between our form and attitude going into the game and our performance on the pitch.

“It is not good. It is the worse thing because there is such a big discrepancy,” Tuchel said.

Spaniard Olmo pounced on Bayern’s sloppy defending in the third minute to slot in for the lead and he added another with a superb flick and turn that left two defenders standing a minute before the break.

With Bayern wasteful up front, as was the case for much of last season, and squandering half a dozen chances, Tuchel brought on Kane in the 64th minute to huge cheers from Bayern fans.The England skipper was largely anonymous but earned the sympathy of Tuchel.

“I’m just sorry for Harry Kane, he probably thinks that we haven’t trained for four weeks,” he said.

Olmo scored again, this time with a penalty only four minutes later, to secure the first title of the season for his team.

“It was amazing night. We worked a lot over 90 minutes, also with possession,” Olmo said. “I think it was a perfect game.

“We expected to win, we wanted to lift this trophy and there is no better way to start the season,” he added.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2023