Following the conclusion of the November international break, Bayern Munich resumed Bundesliga action, on matchday 11 of the ongoing 2024/25 season, by welcoming their Bavarian neighbours - Augsburg to the Allianz Arena. Despite an unproductive first half, Bayern eventually secured a comfortable 3-0 victory.
In the first half, the visitors, playing in a defensive 3-5-2 formation, did well to thwart the attempts of Die Roten. Despite Bayern having 80% ball possession and outshooting Augsburg 13-2 in the first half, the score was still 0-0 at the interval. However, the relentless pressure from the hosts eventually caused the visitors to cave in during the second half.
Let us now look at the three players who stood out in Friday’s Bavarian derby. Bayern won and kept a clean sheet for the sixth consecutive game in all competitions (All stats courtesy: Sofascore).
Harry Kane
Augsburg kept Harry Kane quiet in the first half with close marking and physicality. This trend continued throughout most of the second half as the England captain was afforded little space to operate. However, just after the hour mark following a Bayern corner, Kane’s presence in the box caused panic in the Augsburg defense, forcing a defender to handle the ball. Kane comfortably despatched the resultant penalty to open the scoring.
Three minutes into added time Kane made it 2-0 after earning his and Bayern’s second penalty when he was tripped in the box while trying to convert a cross. He completed his hattrick just before the final whistle with a sublime piece of ball control to take out the goalkeeper before nodding in the game’s final goal.
The fact that Kane had just 39 touches during the game emphasizes how closely he was marked throughout the evening. Despite a quiet evening, Kane ended up scoring thrice on Friday.