Kane opened the scoring from the spot after 19 minutes and a second-half hat trick took him to 33 Champions League goals, the most of any Englishman as he overtook Wayne Rooney's mark of 30. The comfortable scoreline masked a difficult period after the break when Bayern lost goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to injury and Zagreb rallied, scoring two goals in two minutes to cut the gap to 3-2 after five second-half minutes.

Former Crystal Palace forward Michael Olise scored a brace on his Champions League debut while Raphael Guerreiro, Leroy Sane and Leon Goretzka also grabbed goals for Bayern. The six-time Champions League winners had won every one of their past 20 opening matches in the competition dating back to 2002-03.

The score is one goal better than Bayern's record 8-2 win over Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the competition in 2020. The big win brought more than bragging rights for the German giants, with goal difference likely to be even more important under the new Champions League single league format.

Bayern were dominant early but it went unrewarded, with goals by Jamal Musiala and Serge Gnabry struck off for narrow offsides, until VAR found a foul on Aleksandar Pavlovic, bringing Kane to the spot. The England captain converted the penalty, sending Ivan Nevistic the wrong way. Bayern then grabbed hold of the match with two goals in a five-minute period late in the first half.

Guerreiro slammed in an excellent chested assist from Musiala on 33 minutes, before Olise headed in a Joshua Kimmich corner for a goal on his Champions League debut. Neuer, who had ventured close to the halfway line to snuff out a Zagreb counter in the opening minutes, was substituted at half-time and the change seemed to spook the home side.

Bruno Petkovic's 48th-minute goal came out of nothing, the captain turning in Ronael Pierre-Gabriel's pass. When Takuya Ogiwara scored on the counter just two minutes later, the home fans began to wonder if last season's wobbles - when Bayern went trophyless for the first time in 11 seasons - were back.

Kane was however next to score and his three strikes in 22 second-half minutes brought his total with Bayern to 53 goals in 50 games, while a second for Olise and goals from Sane and Goretzka secured a dominant win for the home side. Two-time Champions League winner Thomas Mueller was subbed on in the second half for his 152nd appearance in the competition, the most for any one club, overtaking Barcelona's Xavi.

September 17, 2024

T. Ogiwara

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