Bayern Munich showed why they are the 11-time defending German Bundesliga 1 champions in last weekend’s Der Klassiker, after the Bavarians thrashed nemesis and fellow German outfit Borussia Dortmund. Thomas Tuchel’s men overcame their disappointments of a shocking loss to 1. FC Saarbrücken and a severe knee injury to Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt last midweek to humiliate the Black and Yellows 4-0 in front of the latter’s home fans at the Signal Iduna Park, with French centre-back Dayot Upamecano opening the score line and new summer signing Harry Kane bagging a hat-trick for Bayern’s eighth league win in the 2023/2024 Season.
109th Der Klassiker Between Bayern and Dortmund
Coming into the 109th Der Klassiker, having first played each other back in 16th October 1965, Bayern Munich suffered a disastrous 2-1 comeback loss to 1. FC Saarbrücken in the Second Round of the DFB-Pokal. To rub into the wound, the Bavarians also lost defender de Ligt during one of the biggest upsets in German football, leaving them in a bad position to face Dortmund last weekend. The Black and Yellows, on the other hand, had been invincible in all but one match in all competitions this 2023/2024 Season before the 109th Der Klassiker versus Bayern.
Surprised to many, it was the Matthijs de Ligt-Less Bayern Munich who got on the scoresheet first in the match, when his replacement Upamecano found the net inside four minutes of the match. Leroy Sané’s set-piece delivery was perfect and it found the unguarded French defender to tap in only his third goal in a Bayern Munich jersey. The visitors then increased their advantage to two about 300 seconds later, courtesy of Kane’s strike. The England national team skipper capped off an impressive counterattack that started from the back, before Sané and Leon Goretzka played a long one-two to set up Kane to score in his Der Klassiker debut.
Bayern kept their 2-0 lead for most part of the 109th Der Klassiker, until Kane netted his second goal of the evening. German prodigy Jamal Musiala played another one-two with Kingsley Coman that allowed the Frenchman to provide a ground cross first time from the right flank, followed by Kane’s easy strike into the back of the net. The former Tottenham Hotspur star would go on to put the icing on the cake for the visitors in the stoppage time, when Aleksandar Pavlović intercepted fellow replacement Niklas Süle’s poor pass and slid the ball to Kane as he fell. The 30-year-old still had a little bit to do but he coolly slotted home his third into the goalkeeper’s right side.
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Kane Scored a Treble in His Der Klassiker Debut, Third Hat-Trick in the Bundesliga 1
The England captain’s three goals against Dortmund in his first ever appearance in Der Klassiker meant he has now scored his third treble for his new club Bayern. Besides, with his Der Klassiker hat-trick last weekend, the English forward brought his season tally to an impressive 17 goals and 7 assists in 14 appearances for the Bavarians in 2023/2024, making him an undisputed summer signing of the season alongside ex-Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham, who amazed everyone after he completed a €103-million move to Spanish La Liga’s Real Madrid earlier this year.
Kane’s impressive performances this season thus far have been translated into the staggering statistics above, and it must have been a huge relief to Bayern and himself, as despite the England international’s insane goal scoring abilities, everyone was worrying about his age (Turned 30 this July) and his football resume that never saw him play outside his birth country at England prior to the start of this 2023/2024 Season.
Fortunately to Kane and Tuchel’s Bavarians, both parties seemed to have found the perfect match for one another, since Bayern justified that they have solved their nightmare striker problems last season in Der Klassiker and other matches this year with the England all-time leading goal scorer’s arrival, while the player who stayed in the trophyless Spurs pretty much his entire senior career will now welcome a serious chance of winning his first major silverware in the league or the UEFA Champions League, having also topped Group A of the European Cup competition after three Matchdays.
Harry Kane has scored more Bundesliga hat-tricks (3) than Thomas Müller (2).
He’s done it in 436 fewer games. 🤪 pic.twitter.com/M12JtEaxQ7
— Squawka (@Squawka) November 4, 2023
Bayer 04 Leverkusen to Go Neck and Neck with Bayern
But if Bayern and Kane do want to succeed in the league this year, they will stumble across a strong resistance from Bayer 04 Leverkusen, who have also been invincible not only in the league, but also in continental cup competition. Although the Bavarians have won eight out of 10 league games this year, the Xabi Alonso-managed Leverkusen is now top of the German Bundesliga 1 table with nine wins and have scored 54 goals across 15 matches played in all tournaments.
Both teams played a 2-2 draw at the Allianz Arena in September, and will only stumble across each other again February next year, where it likely to be a title decider should both teams continue to impress in domestic football and European club football competitions.
