Bayern pay homage to Gerd Müller before beating Dortmund to claim Super Cup

Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich paid tribute to the death of their legendary striker Gerd Müller with victory over the German Cup winners Borussia Dortmund in the German Super Cup on Tuesday night.

The match at the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund was preceded by a minute of silence during which the Bayern striker Thomas Muller held up a shirt bearing Müller's name and number 9.

Müller died on Sunday at the age of 75. He joined Bayern when they were still in the second division.

Dismissed as short and fat by the then coach Zlatko Cajkovski, he was left on the sidelines until the club president  Wilhelm Neudecker urged Cajkovski to play Müller.

He was eventually sent out 10 games into the season for the fixture against Freiburg. A brace followed - the start of a goalfest which propelled Bayern into the top flight and ultimately their preeminence in world football.

During his 15 years at Bayern, Müller won 13 trophies including three European Cups, four Bundesliga crowns and four German Cups. One of his 68 goals for West Germany was the winner in the 1974 World Cup final against the Netherlands.

Homage
Fittingly, two days after his death, it was Robert Lewandowski - the man who broke his 49-year-old record of 40 top flight goals in a Bundesliga season - who bagged a brace in the 3-1 victory over Dortmund.

Lewandowski opened the scoring against his former club just before half-time. Muller doubled the advantage just after the break.

But Dortmund refused to be cowed and halved the deficit after 64 minutes when Jude Bellingham set up Marco Reus to rifle home past the Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

Lewandowski restored the two-goal cushion 10 minutes later.  The Poland international slotted past the Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel after defender Manuel Akanji lost possession.

Bayern held on to secure the victory and Julian Nagelsmann's first piece of silverware as their coach.

Bayern and Dortmund return to Bundesliga action this weekend. Dortmund play at Freiburg on Saturday afternoon while Bayern entertain Koln on Sunday evening.