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Klassiker win
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Harry Kane was once again unplayable as Bayern Munich beat rivals Borussia Dortmund 2-1 to win the 138th edition of Der Klassiker. Kane opened the scoring in the 21st minute. It was Kane’s 400th club career goal at a senior level in his 607th game. Kane has scored 280 goals for Tottenham, 104 and counting for Bayern, nine for Millwall, five for Leyton Orient, and two for Leicester. Kane has also scored nine goals in 13 games for Tottenham's U21 and two for Norwich's U21 in one game, which are also included in the statistic below. “A couple of the guys mentioned it to me,” Kane said when asked whether he was aware of the landmark. “It is a nice one to reach.”
His record for Bayern remains remarkable. Kane has scored 104 goals for Bayern in just 107 games. This season, Kane is perhaps in the best form of his life. The striker has now scored 12 goals in seven Bundesliga games. If he keeps up that pace, he will end the season with 58 Bundesliga goals. His 22 goals in 16 games across all competitions are also a breathless pace. But it wasn’t just the goal that made Kane valuable against Dortmund. Playing as a no.10, Kane often dropped deep, and as Dortmund tried to press for the equalizer late helped out defensively as well.
“He was very complete today,” Bayern Munich head coach Vincent Kompany said when asked about his star striker. “Of course, he scores the goal, but he also helped defensively and had an important tackle against Nico Schlotterbeck. Right now, he is in incredible form. We enjoy him in a phase in which he is playing well.” The Bayern bosses are right to be pleased about Kane’s performances. Not only did he score a decisive goal, but he also had a complete performance. “If we had known he would improve every season, we would have paid even more for him,” Bayern Munich CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen said about the striker for whom the club paid a club record €95m in the summer of 2023.
Harry Kane: "I am in the best shape of my career"
“I enjoyed that aspect today,” Kane said about playing as a no.10. “I am still there to score the goals. But today I obviously dropped a bit deeper with the ball when we were without the ball. Trying to defend the box well. Ultimately, trying to play my teammates in behind and use my passing range. There were a lot of good things out there. It is a shame we couldn’t put a final touch on the game and finish it off early. It was another good win over a competitor, and it helps us build a bit of a gap,” Kane said. With that win, Bayern Munich are now five points ahead of RB Leipzig at the top of the Bundesliga table. More importantly, the gap to Dortmund is now seven points.
Overall, then an almost perfect evening for Bayern Munich. Kane’s only complaint after the game was that they allowed Dortmund back into the match after completely dominating them in the first half. “We had dominance over our opposition,” Kane said when asked about the start of the match. "We should have been up by two or three goals at halftime. After that, they got back into the match they caused us some problems. But they were just small problems compared to the first half.” Finally, Michael Olise made it 2-0 in the 79th minute, just for Julian Brandt to halve the score two minutes later. “We were disappointed to concede the goal so quickly after our second goal. But we found a way to win. We had to defend our box well and could have maybe scored another one or two on the counter.”
It was in those final ten minutes that Kane showed the full range of his abilities. Defensively, Kane flew into tackles, trying to win the ball deep and open up the attack. He was also crucial in initiating counterattacking moments. “Physically and mentally, I feel like I am in the best shape of my career,” Kane said. “I think that showed out there today. I feel confident about my all-around game. I am excited to go into every game the way we are working together. There is a real special bond amongst the team right now. We all dig in deep, no matter who you are; we all put effort in, and that’s a real favorable asset to have. I know I can help the team in many different aspects, not just by scoring goals, and I think the team feels that as well, and we are using that together to have games like today.”
