Harry Kane came off the bench to score a hat-trick as Bayern Munich thrashed Stuttgart 5–0 in a Bundesliga match packed with late drama on Saturday.
Kane struck three times in the second half to crush Stuttgart’s spirited resistance, while St. Pauli and Heidenheim also sealed injury-time goals in their respective fixtures.
Playing their fifth match in two weeks, Bayern rotated heavily, with Manuel Neuer, Kane, and Jonathan Tah all starting on the bench. Despite the changes, Vincent Kompany’s side began brightly. Nicolas Jackson went close early on before Konrad Laimer opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a deft backheel.
Stuttgart rallied before the interval and were unfortunate not to equalise when Nikolas Nartey’s header was disallowed for offside after a lengthy VAR review.
Bayern stepped up after Kane’s introduction in the second half. The England captain doubled the lead with a precise strike from the edge of the area, and Josip Stanišić fired in a third 12 minutes from time. Kane then added a fourth from the penalty spot after Lorenz Assignon handled on the goal line, before sealing his hat-trick with a late tap-in.
The 32-year-old now has 17 league goals this season and 28 in all competitions.
Elsewhere, Christian Eriksen inspired Wolfsburg to their first home win in nearly a year with a 3–1 victory over Union Berlin. Winless at home in 14 matches, Wolfsburg stunned Union with two superb first-half goals from Patrick Wimmer and Mohamed Amoura. Eriksen then created the third after the break, capitalising on a defensive error by Stanley Nsoki before setting up Lovro Majer. Union threatened a comeback when Nsoki pulled one back and Leopold Querfeld missed a late penalty, but Wolfsburg held on.
There was also a major upset in Augsburg, where the hosts defeated Bayer Leverkusen 2–0 in their first match since sacking coach Sandro Wagner. Dimitrios Giannoulis struck early before Anton Kade doubled the lead with a header later in the first half.
St. Pauli avoided a tenth straight defeat with a 1–1 draw at Cologne. Said El Mala fired Cologne ahead early in the second half, only for English striker Ricky-Jade Jones to rescue a point with St. Pauli’s only shot of the match.
Meanwhile, Heidenheim completed another dramatic late comeback, beating Freiburg 2–1 for their second stoppage-time victory in as many weeks. After Patrick Mainka cancelled out Johan Manzambi’s opener, Stefan Schimmer struck in the 94th minute to snatch all three points for the hosts.
AFP
