Louis van Gaal and his team have picked up a first trophy of the new season by beating Manchester United 7-6 on penalties after a goalless draw in Thursday evening's Audi Cup final. The result means Bayern go into Sunday's DFB Cup first round tie away to Neckarelz in upbeat spirits after an absorbing encounter with the Premier League champions.
The 69,000 full house at the Allianz Arena saw dominant Bayern miss chances in the first half, but United were the stronger of the sides after the break. Keeper Michael Rensing made a string of decent saves to see his team through to the shoot-out, where he beat out efforts from Patrice Evra and Johnny Evans to seal the win for the home side.
Argentine outfit Boca Juniors finished third in the tournament after defeating AC Milan on penalties in the play-off earlier in the evening.
Ringing the changes
FCB supremo Louis van Gaal fielded the core of the team which finished the 4-1 victory over Milan the previous day, although four of Thursday's starters – Martin Demichelis, Breno, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk and Alex Baumjohann – played only 25 minutes against the Italians, and Basti Schweinsteiger just a half.
In the continuing absence of Franck Ribery, Luca Toni, Ivica Olic and Miro Klose with injury and illness, Thomas Müller again partnered Mario Gomez up front, with Philipp Lahm, Edson Braafheid and skipper Mark van Bommel also starting for the second day in a row. In goal, Michael Rensing took over from Jörg Butt.
Sir Alex Ferguson followed a similar policy, initially resting the previous day's 90-minute men Wayne Rooney and John O'Shea, and starting with a clutch of Wednesday's subs including Rio Ferdinand and veteran trio Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Edwin Van der Sar. There was also a run-out for big-name summer signing Michael Owen alongside strike partner Dimitar Berbatov.
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