Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich maintained their unbeaten start to the Bundesliga season after drawing 1-1 with champions Bayer Leverkusen at the Allianz Arena, although the Bavarians did lose Harry Kane to injury late on.
The game will be best remembered for two spectacular long-range first-half strikes as first Robert Andrich opened the scoring just past the half-hour mark after collecting Granit Xhaka’s layoff, before drilling a low shot into the bottom corner past a helpless Manuel Neuer.
Harry Kane was forced off with a leg injury
Leverkusen’s Robert Andrich (second right) celebrates after scoring the opener (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
That goal came completely against the run of play, although it did not take Munich long to equalise after another moment of brilliance, this time from Aleksandar Pavlovic, who beat Lukas Hradecky with a dipping first-time volley from 25 yards out.
Aleksandar Pavlovic levels for Bayern Munich (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)
The home side dominated thereafter and were inches away from going ahead at the start of the second period as Kane’s clever pass found Serge Gnabry in space at the back post, only for the Germany forward’s first effort to hit the inside of the post, before he thumped the rebound off the top of the bar.
Bayern continued to push for a winner, only to see Kane, who was largely anonymous throughout after failing to have a single shot in a league game for the first time in over three years, limping off late on with a leg injury in what will be a worry for both Kompany and interim England manager Lee Carsley.
Serge Gnabry comes even so close to putting Bayern Munich ahead in the second-half as he see his shot cannon off the post then his follow-up hit the crossbar
Kane did give a positive update on the injury when walking through the mixed zone after the game, saying “I assume I’ll be able to play” [against Aston Villa in the Champions League on Tuesday].
Leverkusen, meanwhile, will be the happier of the two teams as Xabi Alonso’s champions stayed just three points behind the leaders after the opening five games of the season.
What’s next?
Sunday 6th October 5:30pm
Kick off 4:30pm
Bayern travel to Aston Villa in the Champions League on Tuesday night (kick-off 8pm) and then to Eintracht Frankfurt a week on Sunday, live on Sky Sports Football (kick-off 4.30pm).
Meanwhile, Leverkusen host AC Milan in Europe’s premier club competition on Tuesday evening kick-off 8pm, before entertaining Holstein Kiel next Saturday (kick-off 2.30pm).