Football news - Bayern Munich held at Borussia Monchengladbach in Bundesliga curtain raiser

Bayern Munich were held to a 1-1 draw by Borussia Monchengladbach to get Julian Nagelsmann's tenure as Bayern boss off to a rocky start.

The defending Bundesliga champions kicked off their pursuit of a 10th consecutive Bundesliga title on Friday night hoping for all three points at Borussia-Park, but the visitors could not find a winner after Robert Lewandowski cancelled out Alassane Plea's opener in the first half.

With Bayern's new-look backline looking nervy and rusty early on, Gladbach capitalised through Plea on the counter-attack. The French striker met Lars Stindl's pass and calmly slotted the ball past Manuel Neuer to hand the hosts a surprise lead.

But Bayern grew into the game and Yann Sommer was forced into a fine stop to deny Lewandowski in the 25th minute. The Poland international latched onto a fine lofted pass from Alphonso Davies over the entire Gladbach defence, but his poked effort from point-blank range was denied by the Swiss goalkeeper.

However the Bundesliga's second highest all-time top goalscorer was not going to be kept quiet for much longer. As Bayern continued to pressure, their equaliser came two minutes before the break as Lewandowski lost his marker to volley home a corner at the near post.

The opening 15 minutes of the second half was a slow affair before Sommer was forced into a fantastic save on the hour mark, showing great reflexes by using his outstretched right boot to deny a Lewandowski strike which seemed destined for the bottom corner.

Although Bayern continued to dominate possession, Gladbach had the best goalscoring opportunities. In the 69th minute, Stindl's low driven strike was well saved low down by Neuer before substitute Marcus Thuram failed to latch onto a lethal pass across the goalmouth from Stefan Lainer.

Thuram went down in the box under a challenge from Dayot Upamecano with less than ten minutes to play, but referee Marco Fritz correctly called it as a dive from the Frenchman.

In the final seconds of the match substitute Kingsley Coman pegged the ball back for Joshua Kimmich on the edge of the area, but he fired what would have been the winner agonisingly wide.

Bayern Munich's new boss will have been desperate to get off to a strong start as the fans returned to watch Bundesliga football, but for all their possession dominance his side looked off the pace.

Gladbach looked better prepared for the game and will be delighted to have held on for a point.

For Bayern, Nagelsmann needs to get his side up to full fitness promptly and the backline all on the same wavelength ahead of their DFL-Supercup clash against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night.

The Gladbach goalkeeper earnt rave reviews for his displays for Switzerland at Euro 2020 and he impressed again tonight against Bayern.

The 32-year-old pulled off two particularly vital saves to deny Lewandowski which many other goalkeepers would likely not be capable of.

Borussia Monchengladbach: Sommer (8), Lainer (7), Ginter (6), Elvedi (6), Scally (7), Kramer (6), Neuhaus (6), Herrmann (6), Stindl (7), Wolf (6), Plea (7)

Subs: Hofmann (6), Thuram (6), Bennetts (6), Benes (N/A)

Bayern Munich: Neuer (6), Kimmich (5), Upamecano (6), Sule (5), Davies (5), Stanisic (6), Goretzka (5), Sane (6), Muller (5), Gnabry (6), Lewandowski (7)

Subs: Coman (6), Musiala (5), Sarr (N/A), Choupo-Moting (N/A)

11' - GOAL FOR GLADBACH! Gladbach lead and it's fully deserved! Plea fires Gladbach in front! It starts with Davies running into a cul-de-sac. The ball is worked to Herrmann who finds Stindl with a fine through ball, Stindl stretches to pass it beyond Upamecano into the path of Plea, who calmly slots the ball past Neuer into the bottom corner! It's a dream start for Gladbach against the record champions!

25' - WHAT A SAVE! Davies' lofted ball over the top of the entire Gladbach backline finds Lewandowski. From point-blank range, he pokes a shot on goal but Sommer makes a fine stop!

42' - BAYERN GOAL!!! Who else but Robert Lewandowski! The corner swung in by Kimmich is swept home on the volley at the near post by the clinical Pole. We are level!

60' - WHAT A SAVE! Davies surges down the left flank and cuts it back to Lewandowski. The striker gets a low well placed strike on goal but Sommer makes a phenomenal save with his right boot to send it out over his own crossbar for a corner! Heroic from Sommer!

76' - BIG CHANCE! The goal is gaping for Thuram, but he just cannot get a touch onto Lainer's deadly pass across the goalmouth! That could have been the decider!

90+4' - HUGE MOMENT! That was it... the big moment to win it! A wonderful pass to the edge of the box from Coman finds Kimmich, but he fires his effort wide!