MUNICH: Harry Kane scored his 32nd goal of the campaign as Bayern Munich cruised to a 4-2 home win over Stuttgart to claim a record-extending 35th Bundesliga title. Raphael Guerreiro, Nicolas Jackson and Alphonso Davies joined Kane on the scoresheet, while Chris Fuehrich and Chema Andres scored for the visitors.
Borussia Dortmund’s limp 2-1 defeat at Hoffenheim on Saturday, their second in two matches, left the door open for Bayern, who only needed a point at home to secure the title with four games to spare.
Coach Vincent Kompany left regular starters Kane, Michael Olise, Manuel Neuer, Aleksandar Pavlovic, Dayot Upamecano and Jonathan Tah on the bench with Wednesday’s German Cup semi-final at Bayer Leverkusen in mind.
Bayern fell behind when Chris Fuehrich scored with 21 minutes gone but roared back, scoring three goals in seven minutes. Jamal Musiala created Guerreiro’s opener before Luis Diaz laid on two goals in four minutes for Jackson and Davies to grab control of the match by the break.
Kane grabbed another early in the second-half to ensure another Bundesliga crown was quickly added to his burgeoning team trophy collection. With victory secure, Bayern took their foot off the pedal as an assistant brought bags full with ‘2026 Champions’ t-shirts to the sideline. Andres added a late goal for Stuttgart with two minutes remaining but Bayern were on cruise control with title celebrations in mind.
Record-breaking Bayern
The title victory once again illustrated Bayern’s modern and historical dominance of German football. The Bavarian giants have now won 13 of the past 14 Bundesliga titles. Bayern have 35 league titles, with no other team reaching double figures.
Bayern’s wealth and influence outshines all of their domestic rivals and this season has been truly remarkable. Bayern have scored 109 goals, the most in Bundesliga history and eight more than the previous record set back in 1971-72, with four games remaining.
Free-scoring Bayern have 79 points and a goal difference of 80. If the season ended today, Bayern would become the first team to have a greater goal difference than points tally in Bundesliga history.
With four wins in their remaining four games, Bayern could bring up 91 points, equalling the best mark set by their treble-bound side in 2012-13. Then there are the individual records.
Kane, who became the first Englishman since 1930-31 to reach a half-century of goals in a season in all competitions on Wednesday, can still reach Robert Lewandowski’s single-season goals record of 41. The England captain has 32 goals from his 27 games this campaign and is in with an outside chance of catching Lewandowski.
Michael Olise has 18 assists, three shy of the all-time mark set by Thomas Mueller in 2019-20. Earlier on Sunday, Freiburg pushed last-placed Heidenheim closer to the drop with a 2-1 home win.
Johan Manzambi put the Europa League semi-finalists ahead after 24 minutes but Heidenheim’s Budu Zivzivadze levelled things up just before the hour mark. Freiburg’s Maximilian Eggestein scored the winner with seven minutes remaining to help his side leapfrog Eintracht Frankfurt into seventh spot.
The defeat leaves Heidenheim, who hosted Chelsea in the Europa Conference League last season, seven points behind the relegation play-off spot and 11 from safety with four games to play. — AFP
