MUNICH: Striker Harry Kane scored twice as Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich eased past visitors Union Berlin 3-0 on Saturday to provisionally open up a three-point gap at the top.
The Bavarians won their third straight league game without conceding a goal in a near-flawless dress rehearsal ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League game in Munich against Benfica.
While Vincent Kompany’s team are undefeated in the league, they have lost two of their three Champions League matches so far and are desperate for a win over Benfica to boost their chances of advancing to the next round of the competition.
“We’ve not started the Champions League well, so the pressure is on in every Champions League game now,” Kane said.
“I think if we use the confidence that we’ve played the last few games with, we can cause any team a lot of problems. There’s still a long way to go, but we’ve got the right mentality and the right attitude,” Kane told Sky.
Bayern opened their account with a 15th-minute penalty by England captain Kane before Kingsley Coman curled a shot past keeper Frederik Ronnow to make it 2-0 two minutes before the break.
Union had no effort on goal in the entire first half and were constantly on the back foot, struggling with Bayern’s pace and intensity, with the hosts having close to 80 per cent possession at times.
Union, who dropped to sixth on 15 points, could do nothing to stop Kane from stabbing in his second goal of the afternoon from close range six minutes after the restart.
Kane, who also scored a hat-trick against VfB Stuttgart two weeks ago in the Bundesliga, came close to another one late in the game with a low drive. He now has 11 league goals this season to top the scorers’ list.
Bayern, who have scored 32 goals and conceded only seven in nine league games, are top on 23 points, three ahead of second-placed RB Leipzig.
Later on Saturday, Borussia Dortmund carved out a 2-1 home victory over Leipzig to relieve the pressure on under-fire coach Nuri Sahin.
Dortmund came into the game with four losses in their past five games, including Tuesday’s German Cup elimination by VfL Wolfsburg — their earliest exit in 15 years.
Dortmund spurned several clear-cut chances early before Benjamin Sesko put Leipzig in front after 27 minutes, blasting in off the crossbar.
The hosts hit back three minutes later, Maximilian Beier tapping in a ball in the box for his first Dortmund goal since arriving in the summer.
With just over half an hour remaining, Beier looped a cross in to Serhou Guirassy, who headed Dortmund in front, his fifth goal in his past six league games.
“The style and manner was great today. That’s what we expect of ourselves, even if we don’t always get there,” Dortmund captain Emre Can told Sky.
The win sent Dortmund fifth with 16 points after nine matches as Leipzig suffered their first league loss of the season.
Meanwhile Omar Marmoush, Kane’s main competitor at goal scoring charts, scored one and assisted two more in Eintracht Frankfurt’s 7-2 demolition of hapless Bochum.
Hugo Ekitike scored a brace while Marmoush, Ansgar Knauff, Nathaniel Brown, Mahmoud Dahoud and Can Uzun all got on the scoresheet in the rout.
Marmoush now has 10 goals to Kane’s 11 this season, but the Egyptian’s six assists — the best in the league — are one more than the England captain’s five.
Frankfurt leapfrogged champions Bayer Leverkusen into third place, six points behind leaders Bayern.
Bochum now have just one point from nine games to sit stranded at the bottom of the table after both promoted sides St Pauli and Holstein Kiel won on Saturday.
Kiel beat Heidenheim 1-0 at home thanks to a goal from Patrick Erras, for their first win in the top division, to go three points clear of Bochum.
Elsewhere, St Pauli downed Hoffenheim 2-0 win while Wolfsburg drew 1-1 at home with Augsburg.
Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2024
