{"id":40425,"date":"2026-02-15T12:04:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T12:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=40425"},"modified":"2026-02-15T12:04:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T12:04:39","slug":"kane-brace-helps-bayern-widen-gap-atop-bundesliga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=40425","title":{"rendered":"Kane brace helps Bayern widen gap atop Bundesliga"},"content":{"rendered":"
Harry Kane scored twice in the first half as Bayern Munich cruised to a 3-0 win at Werder Bremen on Saturday, restoring their six-point lead atop the Bundesliga table.<\/p>\n

Borussia Dortmund’s 4-0 victory over Mainz on Friday drew them within three points of the league leaders but Bayern sent a clear response.<\/p>\n

They were in control from start to finish in Bremen, with Leon Goretzka joining the England captain on the scoresheet in the 70th minute.<\/p>\n

Kane has 26 goals in 22 Bundesliga games this season and 41 in all competitions, 13 of those from the penalty spot.<\/p>\n

Kane’s second strike brought up 500 goals in his career for club and country and the striker told reporters: “500 is a great number — a lot of hard work and dedication has gone into it.<\/p>\n

“All I can say is thanks to all of my teammates and managers over the years — and I look forward to the next 50, the next 100.”<\/p>\n

Bayern lined up without the suspended Michael Olise for the first time in 89 matches in all competitions since the France winger arrived from Crystal Palace in 2024.<\/p>\n

Bremen kept the league leaders at bay in the opening stages but Kane gave Bayern the lead with 22 minutes played, converting a penalty after VAR found Lennart Karl was felled in the box.<\/p>\n

It was the third straight match Kane had given Bayern the lead from the penalty spot.<\/p>\n

Bayern doubled their lead three minutes later when Kane snuck a low shot in off the right post from the edge of the box.<\/p>\n

Bayern captain Manuel Neuer was subbed off at half-time with a recurrence of a calf injury, but sporting director Max Eberl said it was “nothing dramatic” and “a precautionary measure.”<\/p>\n

Bremen’s Marco Gruell hit the post shortly after the break but Bayern put the game to bed when Goretzka swept home with 20 minutes remaining.<\/p>\n

Hoffenheim continued their turnaround this season, beating Freiburg 3-0 at home with goals from Fisnik Asllani, Ozan Kabak and Valentin Gendrey as they tightened their grip on third spot.<\/p>\n

Finishing just one spot above the relegation playoff spot last season, Hoffenheim, located in a village of around 3,500 people, are on course for Champions League football.<\/p>\n

In their past 16 league matches, Hoffenheim have only lost twice — to Bayern and Dortmund.<\/p>\n

Stuttgart go fourth\u00a0<\/p>\n

An Ermedin Demirovic double took Stuttgart to a 3-1 home victory over Cologne in Saturday’s late match to lift the German Cup holders into fourth spot.<\/p>\n

Demirovic gave Stuttgart the lead after a quarter hour, but Ragnar Ache pulled one back with 11 minutes remaining.<\/p>\n

Just five minutes later, Demirovic knocked in a volley to restore Stuttgart’s lead. Germany forward Deniz Undav wrapped up the three points with a stoppage-time goal.<\/p>\n

“I’m the striker. I score the goals,” Demirovic said.<\/p>\n

Stuttgart travel to Celtic in the first leg of their Europa League knockout tie on Thursday and centre-back Jeff Chabot said “we expect a great game and excellent atmosphere.”<\/p>\n

Bayer Leverkusen beat St Pauli 4-0 at home, their fifth win in their past six games taking the 2024 title winners past RB Leipzig into fifth.<\/p>\n

Former Liverpool centre-back Jarell Quansah headed Leverkusen in front with 13 minutes gone and Patrik Schick struck just a minute later to put the hosts in front.<\/p>\n

Edmond Tapsoba and Ernest Poku added second half goals for Leverkusen, who play at Olympiacos in the Champions League knockouts on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Eintracht Frankfurt cruised to a 3-0 home victory over Borussia Moenchengladbach to hand coach Albert Riera a first win in charge.<\/p>\n

Nathaniel Brown, Ayoube Amaimouni and Ansgar Knauff scored for Frankfurt, who overtook Freiburg into seventh.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Hamburg came from a goal down to beat Union Berlin 3-2 at home and leapfrog their opponents into ninth.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harry Kane scored twice in the first half as Bayern Munich cruised to a 3-0 win at Werder Bremen on Saturday, restoring their six-point lead atop the Bundesliga table. Borussia Dortmund’s 4-0 victory over Mainz on Friday drew them within three points of the league leaders but Bayern sent a clear response. They were in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40425\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}