Luis Díaz scores for Bayern to win German Supercup on his debut

BERLIN (AP) — Luis Díaz scored and won a title on his Bayern Munich debut after a 2-1 win over Stuttgart in the German Supercup on Saturday.

Harry Kane also scored for the Bundesliga champion to win the least important trophy of the season, opening the scoring in the 18th minute when the ball dropped kindly for him to shoot inside the left post.

“To start with a trophy is the most important thing,” Kane said after winning just his second career team title. The Bundesliga in May was his first.

Bayern dominated the early stages but Stuttgart fought back with Nick Woltemade drawing a good save from Manuel Neuer.

Woltemade was and possibly still is a summer transfer target for Bayern. The clubs have so far been unable to agree on a fee despite the player’s openness to the move.

“The file is closed,” Stuttgart chief executive Alexander Wehrle said before the game.

Díaz joined Bayern from Liverpool last month and remains the club’s biggest deal of the offseason.

Neuer produced an outstanding reflex save to deny Jamie Leweling two minutes before Díaz scored in the 77th when Leweling was receiving off-field treatment after clashing knees with Bayern’s Sacha Boey.

“Undoubtedly painful, but still, and perhaps unpopular, but he needs to feel the pain on the field and not two meters away from it,” Stuttgart coach Sebastian Hoeneß said.

Leweling recovered and headed Stuttgart’s answer in stoppage time.

It’s the fourth year that German soccer officials have staged what was the traditional curtain-raiser for the season on the same weekend as the first round of the German Cup, forcing the participants to postpone their cup games.

Stuttgart starts its title defense at Eintracht Braunschweig on Aug. 26 with Bayern playing third-division side Wehen Wiesbaden the following day.

German Cup games

Wolfsburg routed fifth-tier SV Hemelingen 9-0 in the first round of the German Cup, and other Bundesliga teams also enjoyed big wins over lower-league opposition.

Two-time champion Leipzig twice came from behind to beat fourth-tier SV Sandhausen 4-2 with new signings Ezechiel Banzuzi and Yan Diomande scoring.

Heidenheim won at 10-man fourth-tier Bahlinger SC 5-0, Hoffenheim won at third-division Hansa Rostock 4-0, and Freiburg won at fourth-tier club Sportfreunde Lotte 2-0.

Hamburger SV, which clinched its return to the Bundesliga last season, survived a scare at fifth-tier Pirmasens, equalizing late to send the match to extra time, where Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer headed the winner for 2-1.

Königsdörffer was playing for Hamburg only because a proposed early August move to Nice broke down after his medical check with the French team.

Bochum also needed a late goal to level before prevailing at nine-man Dynamo Berlin 3-1.

St. Pauli needed penalties to get past fourth-tier Hamburg rival Eintracht Norderstedt, while fourth-tier Bavarian team FV Illertissen upset Miroslav Klose’s Nuremberg by winning 6-5 on penalties after their game ended 3-3 with extra time.

Also, second-division side Darmstadt won at fourth-tier Lübeck 2-1, and third-division Energie Cottbus won 1-0 to upset Hannover, which is playing in the division above.

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