Harry Kane scored a brace as Bayern Munich thumped the 10 men of Bayer Leverkusen at Allianz Arena in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League last-16 tie.
The Englishman opened the scoring in the all-German clash after just nine minutes as he powered home a wonderful header from Michael Olise’s cross from the right.
Vincent Kompany’s men dominated proceedings, but it wasn’t until the second half when they found their second as Jamal Musiala prodded home from a couple of yards after Matej Kovar spilt a routine cross into the box.
Things shortly went from bad to worse for Xabi Alonso’s men as Nordi Mukiele was shown a second yellow card for scraping his studs down the back of Kingsley Coman’s leg.
Leverkusen’s second-half capitulation continued when substitute Edmond Tapsoba hauled Kane to the ground from a corner, and Michael Oliver pointed to the spot following a check of the pitchside monitor.
It was Bayern’s No. 9 who stepped up, and he found the top-right corner with his spot-kick to take his tally to nine goals in the Champions League this season.
It could have got even worse for Leverkusen in stoppage time as Joao Palhinha grazed the crossbar with an empty net to aim into after being teed up by Musiala, following a fabulous piece of skill to flick the ball over Mario Hermoso’s head inside the area.
Victory sees Bayern get the better of Leverkusen for the first time in seven attempts since Alonso took charge, while Kompany’s men also extended their unbeaten run across all competitions to 10 games.
Before the sides reconvene for the second leg next Tuesday, Bayern will look to extend their eight-point lead over Leverkusen in the Bundesliga as they host Bochum on the weekend while Alonso’s men entertain Werder Bremen.
Eurosport