Kane comes up clutch as Bayern edge past Leipzig to stay in title race
An expectant home crowd were inches away from being greeted by an opener inside five minutes when Kane was found by Raphaël Guerreiro, but the Englishman’s header was brilliantly tipped onto the post by Leipzig goalkeeper Janis Blaswich.
That was about as good as it got for the Rekordmeister before the break, however. Leroy Sane passed up opportunities to shoot when well-placed, and after inadvertently blocking a Kane shot, he drew the ire of the home faithful.
The winger made up for it with a lung-busting recovery run to stop a Leipzig counter in its tracks, but not for the first time this season, the Bayern players were jeered off at the HT whistle regardless.
For all their first-half struggles, the hosts had very rarely found their own goal under threat. Not until the 53rd minute did Leipzig manage a shot on target, as Amadou Haidara stung the palms of Manuel Neuer from range. From the resultant corner, Mohamed Simakan flashed a volley wide of the target to provide another sizable scare.
As tension started to grow inside the Allianz Arena, the ever-reliable Kane brought heart rates down as he slotted home Bayern’s opener, expertly finding the bottom corner after being played in by Jamal Musiala.
World class quality put them ahead, while at the other end it preserved their lead as Neuer made a phenomenal save to deny Benjamin Sesko as he bore down on goal.
The Slovenian passed up another opportunity shortly afterwards, but he was on target in the 70th minute as his effort deflected beyond the grasp of Neuer to set up a thrilling finale in Munich.
Thomas Tuchel turned to his bench for inspiration, and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting made all the difference as his flick was rifled in by the clinical Kane, who sent the home crowd wild with a pivotal last-gasp winner which ended a three-match H2H run without a victory.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
