The Brazilian Douglas Costa was in fine form as Bayern Munich beat Real Madrid 1-0 in a pre-season tournament on Wednesday, with the new signing charging down the wing and setting up Robert Lewandowski for the late winner. Costa, who joined from Shakhtar Donetsk in the close season for a reported €30m, has impressed at the Audi Cup with his speed and control on the left wing in the absence of regular wide players Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry, who are out injured.“We are still in preparation but showed good signs. We need to keep working for the season start,” the Bayern sports director, Matthias Sammer, told reporters a week before the Bundesliga gets underway.
Real were missing the firepower of their regular attacking trio with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema out injured and Gareth Bale on the bench.Bayern had a handful of good chances and hit the post through Thomas Müller in the first half.Costa then set up Lewandowski with a superb cutback but the Pole somehow managed to fire wide in front of an empty goal.The former Bayern player Toni Kroos had Real’s best chance when he tested Manuel Neuer with a powerful shot, but it was Bayern who looked the likelier to score.
The German champions, eyeing a record fourth straight Bundesliga title this season, did just that when Costa found Lewandowski with a pinpoint free kick for the only goal of the game in the 88th minute.“Better to have the earlier miss before the league starts,” Lewandowski said. “Now we will get ready for the German Cup.”
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