Kane's penalty gives Bayern narrow win over Gladbach

Bayern München restored their four-point lead over Bayer Leverkusen at the top of the Bundesliga with a narrow 1-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach at Borussia-Park on Saturday.

Vincent Kompany's side dominated the game from the outset, but couldn't break the deadlock in a first half that saw few clear-cut chances.

Leon Goretzka shot wide from a promising position in the 19th minute, while Thomas Müller came even closer in the 23rd minute when his close-range effort was saved by a fine save from Moritz Nicolas.

Gladbach failed to create a single chance in the first half, but they threatened the Bayern goal just after the break when Tim Kleindienst headed over.

But Bayern remained in control and, after Nicolas made another good save to deny Leroy Sané, the visitors finally made it 1-0 in the 66th minute. The referee pointed to the penalty spot after Lukas Ulrich was adjudged to have brought down Michael Olise, and Harry Kane stepped up to score.

Leroy Sané should have doubled the lead in the 71st minute, but he shot over an open goal and was substituted shortly afterwards.

Bayern had a good chance to seal the win in the 87th minute as they had several players running towards the Gladbach goal on the counter, but Alphonso Davies' attempt was saved by Nicolas.

In stoppage time, Serge Gnabry was played through on goal, but he couldn't get the ball past Nicolas either.

The end result was a 1-0 victory for Bayern, who will be delighted to have opened 2025 with a win against an opponent who proved difficult to break down.