Prague, Czech Republic – Manuel Neuer made the crucial save on a Romelu Lukaku shot on Friday as Bayern Munich claimed a 5-4 victory in penalty kicks over Chelsea to claim the UEFA Super Cup title at the Eden Arena.
In a heated rematch of the 2011 Champions League final, Chelsea, last year's Europa League winners, got off to a quick start just eight minutes into the match when Oscar sent a low cross into the box that was smashed home first time by Fernando Torres to give the London club the early edge.
But the reigning European champions equalized in the 47th minute when Franck Ribery blasted it past a diving Petr Cech to bring the Bavarians level.
The Blues went down to 10 men in the 85th minute when Ramires was shown a second yellow card for a rash challenge on Bayern's Mario Gotze, but Chelsea held on until the end of the 90 minutes to force extra time.
In the extra time Chelsea grabbed the advantage back in the 93rd minute when Eden Hazard drove down the left flank, cut to the center of the park and ripped it past Neuer to give the Blues a rather improbable advantage.
The German champions poured it on in extra time, forcing Cech in several spectacular saves and finally collected an equalizer in the 121st minute of play when the ball fell to the feet of Javi Martinez, who quickly ripped it home to force the penalty shootout.
In the shootout, both sides converted their opportunities as it was 5-4 for Bayern following a strike by Xherdan Shaqiri.
Needing a goal to keep the match alive, the Blues turned to the youngster Lukaku, who excelled on loan last season with West Bromwich Albion. Lukaku stepped up and sent a shot toward the bottom right corner, but Neuer guessed correctly and made a diving stop to hand Bayern Munich its first-ever Super Cup trophy.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.