Bayern Munich extended their unbeaten start to the season to eight games as a 3-1 victory at Mainz saw the champions keep pace with the early Bundesliga pacesetters.
Bayern had ground to make up on Bayer Leverkusen, Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund after they all won before Thomas Tuchel’s side had kicked a ball, but took just 16 minutes to establish a decisive lead as Harry Kane nodded in his ninth of the season after Kingsley Coman’s thunderous opener.
Mainz grabbed an emphatic lifeline before the breakthrough Anthony Caci’s thunderbolt but, seconds after the Frenchman spurned a glorious chance to level in the second half, Leon Goretzka restored Bayern’s two-goal advantage just shy of the hour mark.
Bayern’s sixth victory of the season arrested a three-game losing streak at Tuchel’s former club Mainz and lifted the champions up to third in the table, two points off early leaders Bayer Leverkusen. Mainz remain second from bottom without a win after eight matches.
With Leverkusen opening up a five-point advantage over the reigning champions with victory at Wolfsburg earlier on Saturday, Bayern could not afford another slip-up on the ground they had lost on their three previous visits.
Coman got Bayern on their way to ensuring there would be no repeat, rifling an unstoppable into the far corner after Leroy Sane broke through the Mainz defence.
One quickly became two, with Kane heading in from close range after Goretzka kept the ball in play with an intelligent header back into the six-yard box.
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Harry Kane heads home Bayern Munich’s second goal of the game at the MEWA Arena.
Mainz refused to let their heads drop and earned a lifeline two minutes before the interval, with Caci rounding off a flowing attack with a venomous drive into the top corner.
The hosts should have been level 12 minutes after the restart but Caci fired wide from Danny da Costa’s cutback.
It proved to be a costly miss, with Goretzka crucially restoring Bayern’s two-goal advantage with an instinctive finish after Jamal Musiala won back possession in the Mainz area, leaving the hosts with too big a mountain to climb.
Opta stats
- With 20 points after eight Bundesliga games, Bayern are currently five points better off than in 2022-23 and have made their best start to a Bundesliga campaign since 2016-17 (also 20 points).
- Mainz have scored against FC Bayern in each of their last nine consecutive Bundesliga matches (16 goals).
- Harry Kane has scored nine goals in eight Bundesliga games – only three players have reached this tally in fewer matches: Gert Dörfel (7 games), Paco Alcacer (7) and Erling Haaland (6).
What’s next for Kane and Bayern?
Bayern Munich travel to Galatasaray in the group stages of the Champions League on Tuesday at 5.45pm, before hosting Darmstadt in the Bundesliga on Sunday at 2.30pm.
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