A Harry Kane penalty and a second-half goal by Thomas Müller was enough to give Bayern Munich all three points in the Bundesliga as they beat Freiburg 2-0 on Sunday and new head coach Vincent Kompany continued his winning start.
Bayern were awarded a penalty for a handball following a VAR review when Kane’s header hit the arm of Freiburg captain Christian Günter.
Kane stepped up to take the penalty himself, and the England striker sent Freiburg goalkeeper Florian Müller the wrong way, slotting the ball into the bottom left corner to give the hosts the lead in the 38th minute.
It was Kane’s first goal of the new Bundesliga season, having topped the scoring charts of the German league last campaign with 36 goals.
There was little to separate the two side’s in a cautious opening spell at the Allianz Arena but once Bayern got going it quickly turned into a fairly one-sided contest.
Jamal Musiala showed flashes of brilliance, and new signing Michael Olise looked lively, but the duo failed to convert their chances.
F. Noever/FC Bayern via Getty Images
The second half was a much quieter affair until Serge Gnabry’s cross found Müller, who beautifully controlled the ball and smashed it past the goalkeeper to mark his record 710th appearance for Bayern.
It was also Müller’s 150th career Bundesliga goal, making him the 17th player to reach that sum in league history, while he joined Gerd Müller (365), Robert Lewandowski (238) and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (162) in scoring at least 150 goals for Bayern Munich.
“A brutally beautiful goal! I told the fans on the fence after the game that they should work hard this year because they need a few days off. We’ve got big plans this year,” Müller said.
Freiburg were awarded a penalty in the dying moments of injury time after Ritsu Doan’s volley struck the hand of João Palhinha at close range, but Lucas Höler failed to convert it.
The victory marked Kompany’s first win at home, with Bayern having won 3-2 at VfL Wolfsburg in their Bundesliga opener last weekend.
The record German champions, who were upstaged last season by Bayer Leverkusen, appointed former Burnley manager Kompany to succeed Thomas Tuchel after their disappointing third-place finish last campaign.
Gunter, meanwhile, was left furious after Bayern were awarded a soft penalty. “It really was an insane penalty,” Gunter told DAZN.
“One thing is that it’s probably from 50 centimetres, the other is that when you make a move, when you jump, your arms naturally go up a bit. So if that’s a handball, then I’d prefer to stop playing football.
“I really don’t understand it.”
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Game
Analysis){kind=link}