James Rodriguez enjoyed a successful Bayern Munich debut on Sunday (AEST) as he helped the Bundesliga champion defend its Telekom Cup title, with Corentin Tolisso also making his first appearance for the club.

Bayern beat Werder Bremen 2-0 in the final, with Thomas Muller and Juan Bernat on the scoresheet, while James, who signed on a two-year loan deal from Real Madrid earlier this week, pulled the strings in the number 10 role for Carlo Ancelotti's side.

Muller wasted a chance to make the victory even more emphatic from the penalty spot but the result was never in doubt in a competition that sees games played over a single 45-minute period.

Ancelotti's men have now won four of the past five Telekom Cups, having beaten Mainz to take the title in January.

Kingsley Coman went close with a viciously swerving drive after 10 minutes and Bayern then took the lead as they dominated the low-tempo opening stages at Borussia-Park.

Muller, wearing the captain's armband after the retirement of Philipp Lahm, collected a pass from the right flank, rolled his man and bent a delightful finish from 20 yards into Michael Zetterer's top-left corner.

Victory was secured after 32 minutes when a delightful move saw left-back Bernat finish well after a neat one-two with Muller sent him clear into the penalty area.

Muller soon had a chance to add to his earlier goal when young striker Franck Evina was dragged down in the penalty area, but Zetterer dived low to his right to keep out the forward's poor effort, then reacted quickly to block Muller's rebound strike.

Bayern progressed to the final with a 1-0 win against Hoffenheim after Robert Lewandowski scored the only goal of the game after just six minutes in his first appearance of Bayern's pre-season campaign, the striker controlling a brilliant scissor-kick volley into the bottom-left corner.

Werder booked its place with a 5-3 penalty shootout victory over Borussia Monchengladbach after a 0-0 draw, with the competition's hosts Gladbach then beaten again on penalties, Hoffenheim triumphing 6-5 in the third-place play-off shootout after another scoreless match.