Bayern warm up for Bundesliga with friendly victory over Grasshoppers

Bayern warmed up for the new Bundesliga campaign with a 3-0 win against Swiss side Grasshopper Club Zürich in their final pre-season friendly of 2024/25 at the Campus on Tuesday. Michael Olise got his first goal for his new club to open the scoring in the first half, before Harry Kane doubled the lead shortly after the restart. Mathys Tel added a sublime third after a raft of substitutions, with Thomas Müller getting the fourth in the final seconds.

Using the game to give minutes to players who returned for pre-season training late, Vincent Kompany started with Sven Ulreich in goal as captain. Adam Aznou, Eric Dier, Leon Goretzka and Alphonso Davies were in defence, behind midfield pair Konrad Laimer and Joao Palhinha. Kane led the attack with support from Olise, Gabriel Vidovic and Kingsley Coman.

As they’ve done for most of pre-season under Kompany, Bayern dominated play and soon had their goal when the lively Aznou had a cross blocked, but Olise reacted quickly to the bouncing ball from right of centre and picked out the far corner. Kane saw a curling free-kick pushed away by Grasshopper goalkeeper Justin Hammel before Olise flashed an effort narrowly wide from the edge of the area. The effective high press ensured that the Swiss side – bottom of their domestic Super League four games into the campaign – struggled to get out of their own half for long periods.

Bayern eventually got their second goal straight after the restart when Kane turned home an Aznou header from close range following Davies’ cross from the by-line. Youngster Aznou was again heavily involved as the ball found the back of the Grasshoppers net for a third time. His cross into the box was flicked out to Coman, who fired home, but it was ruled out for offside with Vidovic in front of the goalkeeper.

On the hour mark, Kompany made 10 substitutions, with only Ulreich remaining in goal. There was no impact on the flow of the game, though, as Joshua Kimmich pinged a diagonal ball up to Tel on the left, who took it down with his heel, shrugged off a defender and then picked out the far corner from the edge of the box. Fellow youngster Nestory Irankunda twice came close to getting on the scoresheet with headers, but put one wide and the second needed a good save from Hammel. The fourth goal did finally come in the first minute of added time when Müller volleyed in a cross from a Raphael Guerreiro free-kick.

Bayern’s next game is their Bundesliga opener away at Wolfsburg on Sunday (kick-off: 3.30pm CEST).