Bundesliga
Assist and goal: Kane leads Bayern to the opening win
Bayern’s Harry Kane (r) celebrates his first goal with Leroy Sane. photo
© Axel Heimken/dpa
Harry Kane initiates the first goal of the season and scores the second. FC Bayern’s new top star shows at Werder Bremen why he was brought in. A German international is also convincing.
Also thanks to Topstar’s dream debut Harry Kane has made a befitting start to the new season for champions FC Bayern.
The Munich team, who were still disappointing in the Supercup, won 4-0 (1-0) at the start of the Bundesliga at Werder Bremen. Less than a week after signing and coming on as a substitute in the 3-0 draw against RB Leipzig, Kane provided the assist for the opening goal by German international Leroy Sané (4th) and scored his first goal in the 74th minute. Again Sané (90th) and substitute Mathys Tel (90th + 4) increased.
Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel’s team struggled with the poor conversion of chances until they made it 2-0 against Bremen, who were at least very enthusiastic. But Kane’s sixth shot on goal sat. In the 84th minute the striker was substituted for Tel – job done.
The 61st Bundesliga season got off to a great start in front of 42,100 spectators. The country rock band The BossHoss played and sang the national anthem, while Lothar Matthäus brought the silver championship trophy to the stadium. National coach Hansi Flick watched in the stands between Rudi Völler and DFB President Bernd Neuendorf – and he was able to take a note early in the game.
Bayern since 2002 without an opening defeat
Sané ran away from the Bremen defense after Kane’s pass and overcame Werder goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka. Tuchel didn’t erupt in the greatest celebrations, instead bringing Noussair Mazraoui to the touchline for further instructions. It was the typical opening night: Since the introduction in 2002, the master has never lost an official opening game.
The Bremen crowd acknowledged with applause that Werder went straight back on the offensive after falling behind. However, the loud cheering in the ninth minute quickly fell silent again: the supposed goal scorer Niclas Füllkrug, whose sporting future on the Weser is still open, had only scored from offside. Together with Marvin Ducksch, the top scorer of the past season also tried to cause danger afterwards, but only rarely succeeded.
Munich came into play much better. Even though Kane wasn’t on the ball very often in the first half, Bayern still had good chances. Young star Jamal Musiala’s shot went just wide (21′) and Mazraoui’s attempt hit the post (21′). Leon Goretzka, who was preferred to newcomer Konrad Laimer in the position next to Joshua Kimmich, tested Pavlenka (34th).
Bayern seemed quicker than last Saturday against Leipzig, the defense with new signing Minjae Kim and Dayot Upamecano got few opportunities to distinguish themselves.
Bittencourt and Füllkrug fail
Shortly before the game at Sat.1, Werder trainer Ole Werner warned of this “hardest possible task” at the start against the record champions, but also gave hope because both teams were “still in the identification phase”. But his team had much more trouble building the game. Werner had to do without central defender Niklas Stark for a short time, who was absent “for personal reasons”, as Werder announced.
Bremen had not won any of the previous 27 Bundesliga games against Bayern. After the break, Leonardo Bittencourt slipped up to have a promising chance to equalize in the Bayern penalty area, but the ball went wide (47′). Füllkrug shot over Sven Ulreich’s goal two minutes later. Overall, the Bremen team came out of the dressing room more courageously.
As a result, the game flattened out a bit – until Kingsley Coman shot the post (58th). In this phase, Bayern made too little of their dominance. And then came Kane. The captain of the English national team tested Pavlenka (61st) with a long-range shot and was then passed on by Alphonso Davies in the penalty area at the beginning of the final phase. The star striker decided the game with his right foot. Shortly before he was substituted, the striker was obviously suffering from cramps, Sané crowned his good performance with his second goal shortly before the end, before Tel also scored.