15:30 Kickoffs: Kane and Goretzka shine as Bayern demolish Mainz, Rheinderby ends in wild draw
There was plenty of excitement amid 18 combined goals in the latest set of Bundesliga 15:30 kickoffs. Nine of the tallies scored in the four simultaneous kickoffs came at the Allianz Arena in München as FC Bayern München destroyed visiting Mainz 8-1.
Harry Kane collected five scorer points (three goals and two assists) in the victory. Kane's FCB teammate Leon Goretzka also scored two and assisted on two others for a total of four scorer points in the rout. FCB phenom Jamal Musiala registered two assists in addition to scoring a goal.
While Leipzig and Augsburg moved past respective opponents Darmstadt and Heidenheim rather narrowly, there were plenty of more goals to be had in a wild 3-3 draw between Köln and Gladbach at Borussia Park. Two dramatic lead changes late in the match made for an incredible Rheinderby.
Harry Kane collected five scorer points (three goals and two assists) in the victory. Kane's FCB teammate Leon Goretzka also scored two and assisted on two others for a total of four scorer points in the rout. FCB phenom Jamal Musiala registered two assists in addition to scoring a goal.
While Leipzig and Augsburg moved past respective opponents Darmstadt and Heidenheim rather narrowly, there were plenty of more goals to be had in a wild 3-3 draw between Köln and Gladbach at Borussia Park. Two dramatic lead changes late in the match made for an incredible Rheinderby.
| Harry Kane | FC Bayern München |
Tuchel made two changes to the side that beat Lazio midweek. Aleksandar Pavlovic was unavailable for league action after picking up his fifth yellow card against Freiburg last week. Konrad Laimer replaced the young German-Serbian talent. Alphonso Davies also started above Raphaël Guerreiro at left-back. Suspensions also forced the hand of Mainz trainer Henriksen. Midfielder Leandro Barreiro and defender Dominik Kohr were - as Henriksen had already confirmed - supplanted by Tom Krauß and Anthony Caci.
The Bavarian hosts set a dominant tone early and were already testing FSV keeper Robin Zentner inside of ten minutes. Jamal Musiala got the better of Zentner in the 13th, duping the Mainzer net-minder after he came rushing out to challenge the FCB youngster on what initially appeared to be a broken play. Musiala cooly slotted over to Harry Kane, who had an easy finish into an empty net. Kane nearly doubled the advantage less than a minute later, forcing Zentner into action again with a driven low shot from the half-right in the 14th.
Kane would play an important role in setting up the 2-0 in the 19th. The English superstar adroitly passed over to Leon Goretzka at the left post off a quick Joshua Kimmich free-kick. Goretzka dusted off Kane's service with some help from the post. A hectic ensuring twelve minutes saw Bayern create more chances, and see an awarded handball penalty taken away after VAR review. It came as quite the surprise to witness Mainz pull a goal back in the 31st. New FSV January addition Nadiem Amiri blasted home a free-kick from 25 meters out on the 1-2.
Exciting end-to-end action followed almost uninterrupted during the duration of the opening 45. Both teams were excitable; perhaps too much so in that passing errors on both sides of the ball meant that rolling counterattacks on both sides didn't produce any goals. There was quite a bit of injury time after both Davies and Nullfünfter defender Joshua Guilavogui had to be subbed off in the first half. Bayern took advantage of the extra minutes to score what would be the decisive goal.
Goretzka unlocked Kane on the 3-1 at 45+7. The Englishman's brace gave him his 29th league goal of the season. Henriksen's Nullfünfter simply never recovered from the late knockout blow. Bayern scored a wonderful team goal seconds after the restart. Kane, Musiala, and Guerreiro (on for the injured Davies) supplied some wonderful set-up play on Thomas Müller's 4-1 in the 47th. Musiala added the 5-1, with Kane picking up his second assist, on a quick FCB counterstrike in the 61st.
The record champions were far from finished. Serge Gnabry - in his first appearance back since suffering a muscle tendon injury in mid December - scored the 6-1 off the bench in the 66th. Kane finally completed a much-deserved har-trick on the 7-1 in the 70th, polishing off a rebound of a header from countryman and former Tottenham teammate Eric Dier. To make matters even more humiliating for the devastated guests, Mainz striker Ludovic Ajorque kept Kane onside with a wayward foot.
Goertzka - who had already collected his second assist of the night on Gantry's goal - got into the act again on the final tally of the afternoon. Bayern's new "libero" headed home a Kimmich cross on the 8-1 at 90+2. Despite the result, Bayern remain seven points behind league leaders Leverkusen ahead of their league fixture tomorrow against Wolfsburg. Should Xabi Alonso's Werkself incur their first defeat of the season, Tuchel's charges may maintain a slim hope of re-entering the title race.
Elsewhere in the Bundesliga's 15:30 kickoffs, RB Leipzig were also able to easily dispatch their bottom-table opponents SV Darmstadt 98. Marco Rose's German Red Bulls similarly dominated their guests, yet were unable to run up the score in the same fashion Bayern did. A 2-0 win nevertheless places pressure on Borussia Dortmund in this evening's Top-Spiel. Three points gained mean that Edin Terzic's BVB will need to win against Bremen in order to maintain their place in the top-four.
Whereas there weren't many goals to be had in Augsburg's meek 1-0 home win over 1. FC Heidenheim at the WWK Arena, what may very well be the last of top flight version of Germany's famous Rheinderby produced a very surprising six instances in which the ball found the back of the net! A crazy match at Borussia Park ended in a 3-3 draw. Köln striker Faride Alidou helped his team take a 2-1 lead over hosting Borussia Mönchenglabach, who then in turn struck back with two goals from Robin Hack in two minutes.
Gladbach's 3-2 lead nonetheless didn't last thanks to the fact that German-American striker Damion Downs netted the 3-3 via his inaugural Bundesliga Bundesliga goal off the bench. The final four goals were scored inside a 15-minute span between the 64th and 79th. The affair winded up with an exciting finish during which one certainly felt there could be more goals in store. After both sides traded excellent opportunities, however, the match ended up in a stalemate with the points shared.
