Photo Credit: Getty Images
A remarkable seventh Bundesliga hat-trick from Harry Kane helped Bayern Munich surge eight points clear at the top of the table, beating Augsburg 3-0 at the Allianz Arena to leave the visitors without a win in nine away league matches. Despite their unbeaten league record earmarking Bayern as clear favorites for this game, Vincent Kompany’s men started timidly, but their assuredness on the ball allowed them to slowly increase the pressure on their opponents.
Led by Captain Jeffrey Gouweleeuw, the visiting defence looked solid until just before the half-hour mark, when goalkeeper Nediljko Labrovic was forced into a flurry of saves to deny Kingsley Coman and the dangerous Jamal Musiala on two occasions. And it was Labrovic who continued to be key for Augsburg, tipping over Leon Goretzka’s powerful drive in first-half stoppage time to ensure parity at the break.
Bayern started the second period in the same vein, and Goretzka went the closest yet with a looping header which dropped onto the crossbar. The seemingly unbreachable Labrovic made yet more saves, but Bayern finally got the opportunity they needed to beat him when referee Daniel Schlager pointed to the spot after Mads Pedersen used a hand to prevent a cross from dropping onto Kane’s head.
The England captain stepped up himself to rifle into the top corner from 12 yards, which only served to further motivate his side, and both Coman and Joshua Kimmich went close in the aftermath. There had been virtually nothing for Augsburg to shout about going forward, and the score didn’t at all reflect Bayern’s dominance, with Labrović racking up yet more saves to desperately keep the deficit at one. However, he was to be undone again in the same fashion, with Kane converting another from the spot after Keven Schlotterbeck felled him in the area, earning the defender a second yellow card for his troubles.
To add insult to injury, Kane inventively brought down a ball in the area in the fifth minute of stoppage time and tapped in, not only sealing an unlikely hat-trick but also etching his name in the history books as the fastest player ever to reach 50 Bundesliga goals - doing so in just 43 games.
The manner of victory shows that Bayern are a different beast than many expected when Kompany took over. They’ve now conceded just seven times in their 11 Bundesliga matches and kept a clean sheet in each of their last five, but it’s a completely different landscape at Augsburg, even if they have shored up the defence of late and still have a sizeable buffer to the drop zone.
