Bayern Munich Dominates Bodo/Glimt 5-0 in Champions League Opener
The Allianz Arena held its breath for one man on Tuesday night.
Jamal Musiala walked back into Bayern Munich’s starting XI, back into the Champions League, and back into a story that only a few months ago looked frighteningly uncertain. The 23-year-old had spent pre-season not fine-tuning his touch, but confronting a series of alarming health scares – collapses caused by neurological dysfunctions in friendlies against RB Leipzig and Heidenheim that sent shockwaves through the club.
Now he was in from the start. No easing in, no sentiment. Vincent Kompany made that clear. As relayed by Fabrizio Romano, the Bayern coach insisted the midfielder “deserved to start, it’s not gifted.” On this evidence, he was right.
Musiala’s moment
The first half did not match the occasion. It was tense, bitty, strangely flat. Bayern pushed, Bodo/Glimt refused to blink.
The Norwegian champions arrived with a reputation that commands respect. Last season they toppled Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan; the Allianz Arena knew this was no tourist side. They dropped deep, formed a stubborn block, and made Bayern’s stars work for every yard.
Joshua Kimmich rattled the post on 35 minutes, then forced Nikita Haikin into a sharp save just before the break. Those were half-chances, not statements. By the interval, frustration hummed around the stands.
Two minutes after the restart, it vanished.
Harry Kane thumped a drive from distance. The shot clipped Patrick Berg and spun awkwardly into the box. For a heartbeat, the ball hung loose. Musiala pounced. One swivel, one clean, vicious strike into the far corner, and Bayern finally had their lead.
No fear. No rust. Just a ruthless finish from a player who has had to think about far more than football lately.
The roar that followed felt bigger than 1-0. It sounded like relief, like gratitude, like a stadium welcoming back one of its own.
Kane climbs, Olise delivers
Once Musiala broke the door down, Bayern stormed through it.
The pressure mounted, the tempo rose, and Bodo/Glimt’s resistance began to crack. Kompany’s side started to pin the visitors inside their own penalty area, wave after wave of red shirts swarming around the box.
On 61 minutes, Michael Olise stepped up over a free-kick and bent in a teasing delivery. Kane read it instantly. The England captain peeled away, met the ball with a perfectly timed header, and buried Bayern’s second.
It was more than just another goal. That strike marked Kane’s 55th in the Champions League and his 79th in European competitions overall, numbers that drag him deeper into the conversation among the most prolific forwards this tournament has seen.
Olise, increasingly central to Kompany’s blueprint, had his fingerprints all over it. His set-piece quality, his movement between the lines, his understanding with Kane – all of it is fast becoming a key part of Bayern’s new identity.
Floodgates open
Bodo/Glimt had come to Munich as giant-killers. By the final 20 minutes, they were simply hanging on.
The third goal arrived in the 77th minute and carried the stamp of Alphonso Davies. A surge of acceleration, a driving run, and a composed finish made it 3-0 and stripped away any remaining doubt.
Then Olise took over the scoreboard as well as the stage.
In the 83rd minute he struck Bayern’s fourth, capping a performance that had grown in authority as the night wore on. Deep into stoppage time, he added another, completing his late brace and turning a hard-fought contest into a brutal 5-0 statement.
The scoreline looked comfortable. The journey to get there was anything but.
A streak that refuses to end
Beyond the goals and the individual storylines, this win stretched one of European football’s most remarkable runs.
Bayern Munich have now won their opening match of a European campaign for 23 consecutive seasons. The last time they lost on matchday one? All the way back in 2002/03, a 3-2 defeat to Deportivo La Coruna. Since then, every curtain-raiser has ended the same way: Bayern on top.
Twenty-three straight opening wins. Different coaches, different eras, different stars. The same ruthless habit of starting Europe with a victory.
Next up, the German champions head north to Norway on October 13th to face Viking Stavanger. With Musiala back, Kane climbing the records, and Kompany’s ideas taking shape, how far can this latest Bayern incarnation push that streak – and themselves – in Europe this season?
