German giant, Bayern Munich, began the defence of their Bundesliga crown with a 1-1 draw against Borussia Monchengladbach at the Borussia-Park on Friday night.

For the first time since 2001, the reigning champion must start a Bundesliga season away from home. That was also the last time the reigning champion lost on MD1, with Bayern losing 1-0 away to Borussia Mönchengladbach (W15 D4 since then).

The defending champions who began a new life under new manager Julian Nagelsmann fell behind after just ten minutes into the game when Alassane Pléa scored the first goal of the Bundesliga season.

Last season’s highest goal scorer, Robert Lewandowski, scored the equaliser with three minutes to the end of the first half after being teed up by Joshua Kimmich, as they went into the break levelled.

Both sides came firing in the second half, especially the Bavarians, but Jan Sommer was outstanding for Monchenglacbach as he was for Switzerland in the EURO 2020, and was able to pull some stunning saves to deny the visitors from taking the lead.

The home side also had close chances to take the lead but Manuel Neuer was disciplined to avoid conceding a second goal in the first game of the season as both share the spoils at the end of 90 minutes.

Before now, FC Bayern have lost 26 of their 106 Bundesliga games against Borussia Mönchengladbach – no club has beaten them more often in the German top-flight (also 26 against Werder Bremen). Furthermore, no club scored as many goals as Gladbach have against Bayern (134).