This guest post was written by Zach Lowy, Chief Editor and Social Media Manager of BreakingTheLines.com. Zach is a successful journalist and can be followed at @ZachLowy on X and @zachlowy.bsky.social
on Bluesky. Zach’s work can also be found on FotMob, BetUS and others.
It has been nothing short of a sensational start to the season for Bayern Munich. After opening the season with a trophy against Stuttgart in the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup, Bayern Munich have kicked off the campaign with nine straight victories, winning by 2+ goals in each of their last six matches, and they’ll be looking to continue that streak with a home win against Borussia Dortmund on October 18. If they are to come away with the three points in Der Klassiker, they’ll need Harry Kane to be at his brilliant best.
After emerging as one of the best center forwards in world football at Tottenham Hotspur, Kane departed England for the first time in his career and joined Bayern Munich in 2023 for a Bundesliga-record €100m plus €10m bonuses in transfer fees, shattering the €80m that Bayern paid to sign Lucas Hernandez four years earlier. At 30 years of age, Kane had cemented his status as the all-time leading scorer for the England men’s national team and Tottenham Hotspur as well as the second-top scorer in Premier League history. But there was one asterisk – he hadn’t yet won a trophy.
Kane immediately took German football by storm with 44 goals and 12 assists in 45 appearances in 2023/24, enough to see him claim the Bundesliga Golden Boot and the European Golden Shoe, but not enough to put an end to his seemingly eternal wait for a maiden trophy. Bayern’s historic run of 11 straight Bundesliga titles came to an end at the hands of an unstoppable Bayer Leverkusen side, prompting them to part ways with Thomas Tuchel with just a few months remaining in the season.
After being rejected by a multitude of Europe’s most prized available managers, Bayern finally landed on a new coach with Vincent Kompany taking charge. Fresh off being relegated in his maiden Premier League season with Burnley, Kompany didn’t seem to be the most merit-based choice, but he nevertheless began his tenure with six wins from seven and gradually brought Bayern up to speed with his tactical methods. With Kompany calling the shots and Kane leading the line up top, Bayern managed to knock Leverkusen off their perch and return to the apex of German football.
Kane proved essential yet again with 26 goals and 10 assists in 31 league appearances, winning a second-straight Bundesliga Golden Boot and being named the Bundesliga Player of the Season. He also took care of business in international competition with 11 goals and 2 assists in 13 UEFA Champions League appearances, before heading to the United States to take part in their FIFA Club World Cup adventure. After blanking in their opener, a 10-0 thrashing of Auckland City, Kane would open the scoring in a 2-1 win vs. Boca Juniors before bagging a brace in a 4-2 win vs. Flamengo, but he was kept under wraps in their quarterfinal defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.
“Kane was pretty sharp,” stated Auckland City defender Christian Gray. “I didn’t get on the field that game, but I obviously saw it pretty close up. Bayern are obviously one of the top teams in the world, and if you look at their results since that Club World Cup, as well as before, they’ve been scoring a lot of goals. I think that Bayern team is pretty special…some top, top-quality players. Even though we were on the wrong side of that result, it was pretty cool to see those guys up close.”
Apart from their quarterfinal defeat to PSG and their group stage defeat to Benfica in the Club World Cup, Bayern have not lost a single match since their UEFA Champions League elimination vs. Inter on April 8. You’d have to go back a month further for their most recent Bundesliga defeat, which saw them lose 3-2 to Bochum. Bayern find themselves on track for a record 35th Bundesliga championship, with the Bavarians sitting four points clear of second-placed Dortmund.
Boasting the league’s best defense (3) and the best attack (25), Bayern have scored more than twice as many as goals as BVB, and they’ll be looking to utilize their superior attacking quality to their advantage in Der Klassiker. Whilst Serhou Guirassy has established himself as the second-best center forward in the Bundesliga over the past few seasons with Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund, there is a significant disparity between him and the #1. Having scored a barely believable 18 goals and 3 assists in 10 appearances this season, Kane will be looking to outdo Guirassy once again and lead Bayern to yet another victory.
Kane has already cemented his status as the best player in Germany, but can he prove why he belongs ahead of the likes of Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal and Erling Haaland as the world’s best player?
This guest post was written by Zach Lowy, Chief Editor and Social Media Manager of BreakingTheLines.com. Zach is a successful journalist and can be followed at @ZachLowy on X and @zachlowy.bsky.social on Bluesky. Zach’s work can also be found on FotMob, BetUS and others.
