Bayern Munich came from behind to snatch victory over Eintracht Frankfurt with a last gasp winner from Daniel van Buyten.
Alexander Meier put the visitors in front on the hour mark, but Arjen Robben equalised for Bayern within 10 minutes.
And Van Buyten saved the home side from more angry whistles from their own fans with a winner two minutes from time.
Van Gaal picked Thomas Muller, Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni in his attack, with Robben starting on the ben! ch just three weeks after undergoing knee surgery.
And all three Bayern strikers had chances to open the scoring in a bright first half for the hosts.
Klose placed his sixth-minute shot wide with just Oka Nikolov in the Frankfurt goal to beat, while Toni's first effort, a header from Bastian Schweinsteiger's cross, landed just a foot wide of the post.
Toni then had another effort saved by Nikolov, who pounced on the rebound to deny Muller.
Nikolov made two more saves from Klose, who found himself free in front of the Frankfurt keeper, and Toni again as the visitors held on until half time.
Michael Skibbe's side then emerged with more confidence and they went ahead after 60 minutes through Meier.
Bayern's fans were still applauding the entry of Robben for Klose when Patrick Ochs sent the ball through to Meier, who stayed ahead of Philipp Lahm and silenced most of the 69,000 fans in the Allianz Arena by beating Hans-Jorg Butt with a f! irst-time effort.
Mario Gomez was next on for Bayern, r! eplacing Anatoliy Tymoschuk to give Van Gaal's side four forwards on the field.
His first chance typified his lack of luck in front of goal recently as he took a long ball down well on his chest, but slipped as he prepared to shoot.
At the other end, Ochs almost made it two, but Butt pushed his cross-shot wide of the far post.
Gomez's luck then turned as he won a fortunate rebound off Nikolov and the ball fell for Robben to tap in the equaliser in the 69th minute.
Bayern went in search of the winner with Toni denied by Nikolov before Van Gaal gambled by moving Van Buyten up from the back to play as an additional striker.
And the move paid off as the Belgian headed in the winner two minutes from time to grab a win for the hosts.
