LEVERKUSEN, Germany: Harry Kane scored twice in Bayern Munich’s 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday to set a new personal record for goals in a season as RB Leipzig tightened their grip on fourth spot with a home victory over Borussia Dortmund.
Kane scored in each half, finishing off a tearing Konrad Laimer run and converting a penalty, to raise his league tally to 35 goals in 31 games.
Kane is now six goals shy of Robert Lewandowski’s all-time single-season Bundesliga goals record and has hit a personal best of 42 goals in all competitions this campaign.
The England captain’s goals came either side of a Hugo Ekitike stunner, a day after the Frenchman became a permanent Frankfurt player.
Bayern veteran Thomas Mueller said his side was “in a good flow,” saying since getting past Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-finals “we’ve been getting better, we’ve got a grip on things.”
Before the match, Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel hit back at claims from the club’s honorary president Uli Hoeness that the manager wanted to buy rather than develop players, saying the “absolutely baseless” allegation “could not be further from reality.”
Despite the victory, which solidified Bayern’s chances of a second-placed finish, both Laimer and defender Matthijs de Ligt were subbed off with injury just days before Tuesday’s home Champions League semifinal against Real Madrid.
Dortmund, Germany’s other Champions League semifinalist, had a setback ahead of hosting Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, being thoroughly outclassed in a 4-1 defeat at Leipzig.
The undermanned visitors, missing captain Emre Can, Donyell Malen, Ian Maatsen and Sebastien Haller, dominated early, hitting the lead after 20 minutes through Jadon Sancho.
The England winger curled an excellent shot from the edge of the box into the top right corner to give Dortmund the lead.
Jolted to life, Leipzig equalized almost immediately, Lois Openda turning in a superb Xavi Simons cross for his 24th goal of the season.
Originally called offside, the goal was awarded after a VAR review and the video referee intervened again shortly after, overturning a penalty for Leipzig.
Leipzig then scored two quick-fire goals either side of half-time. Benjamin Sesko pounced on a rebound just before the break and Openda found Mohamed Simakan early in the second.
Christoph Baumgartner added a fourth with 10 minutes remaining to send Leipzig five points clear of Dortmund in fourth, the final guaranteed Champions League spot.
Dortmund goalie Gregor Kobel said “like so often this season, we gifted the opponent too many goals.”
With three teams in the semifinals of the top two European competitions, Germany may however snare a fifth Champions League spot.
Werder Bremen guaranteed first division football next season, winning 3-0 away at Augsburg to go 10 points clear of the drop with three games to play.
Goals from Romano Schmid and Olivier Deman and a Marvin Ducksch penalty took Bremen to a second-straight win for the first time since February.
Wolfsburg also took a major step toward securing top-flight football, scoring two goals in the final minutes to come from behind and beat a 10-man Freiburg 2-1.
In Saturday’s late game, Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen will try and keep their unbeaten record alive this season when they host third-placed Stuttgart.
No team in Bundesliga history has ever gone through a season unbeaten.
Kane hits double in Bayern win as Leipzig tighten grip on fourth
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Kane hits double in Bayern win as Leipzig tighten grip on fourth
- Kane scored in each half, finishing off a tearing Konrad Laimer run and converting a penalty, to raise his league tally to 35 goals in 31 games
- Kane is now six goals shy of Robert Lewandowski’s all-time single-season Bundesliga goals record
Hosts Morocco face Mane’s Senegal for AFCON glory
- Final kicks off at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, where almost all the 69,000 spectators will be backing Morocco
- Senegal are appearing in their third final in four editions and are targeting a second title to follow their 2022 triumph
RABAT: The Africa Cup of Nations reaches its climax on Sunday with a showdown between host nation Morocco, looking to win the title for the first time in 50 years, and Sadio Mane’s powerful Senegal side.
The final kicks off at 1900 GMT at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, where almost all the 69,000 spectators will be backing Morocco, captained by African player of the year Achraf Hakimi.
The first AFCON ever to start in one year and end in another could be the second in a row to be won by the host nation, with the Atlas Lions aiming to follow in the footsteps of Ivory Coast, crowned champions on home soil in 2024.
Walid Regragui’s Morocco have established themselves in recent years as Africa’s pre-eminent national team, becoming the first from the continent to reach a World Cup semifinal, in 2022, and climbing to 11th place in the world rankings.
However, they have long been AFCON underachievers, with their only title to date coming in 1976. This will be their first final since 2004, when they lost to Tunisia when Regragui was part of the team.
Senegal, meanwhile, are appearing in their third final in four editions and are targeting a second title to follow their 2022 triumph, when Mane scored the decisive shoot-out penalty against Egypt in Yaounde.
“We dreamt of being here and now we have done it,” Regragui told reporters on Saturday.
He has been under suffocating pressure to deliver the title for the football-mad nation, and would possibly not have kept his job through to the approaching World Cup in North America had he not reached the final.
“I hope this is just the beginning and not our last AFCON final,” he added.
“Big football nations want to be up there on a regular basis. Tomorrow we want to try to make history.”
He added: “Senegal will need to be really strong to beat us at home, although they are capable.”
Morocco’s success over the last four weeks has been based around the attacking threat of Real Madrid winger Brahim Diaz, the tournament’s top scorer with five goals, and a defense which has conceded only once.
Security concerns
Being at home brings extra pressure, but can also be a huge advantage, and Senegal have complained about the conditions in which they were welcomed to Rabat ahead of the game.
The Lions of Teranga were based in the northern port city of Tangiers until they arrived in Rabat by train on Friday.
The Senegalese Football Federation complained about a “lack of adequate security” for the team’s arrival amid a crowd of fans “which put the players and staff at risk.”
It also complained about their hotel, the fact that their supporters were given fewer than 3,000 tickets for the final, and about being asked to train at the Moroccan team’s base in nearby Sale.
“What happened was not normal,” said Senegal coach Pape Thiaw.
“Given the number there, anything could have happened. My players could have been in danger.
“That type of thing should not happen between two brother countries.”
Mane, a two-time winner of the African player of the year award, said after netting the winner in the semifinal against Egypt that Sunday’s game would be his last ever AFCON appearance.
But Thiaw insisted on the eve of the game that the former Liverpool forward may have to rethink that decision.
“I think he made his decision in the heat of the moment and the country does not agree, and I as coach of the national team do not agree,” said Thiaw.
“We would like to keep him for as long as possible,” added the coach, who is without center-back and captain Kalidou Koulibaly due to suspension.
Off the pitch this edition of Africa’s premier sports event has demonstrated that Morocco is determined to be a successful co-host of the 2030 World Cup.
The tournament has been free of the problems that have plagued earlier AFCONs, the stadiums and pitches have generally been of a high quality and high-speed rail links show a country significantly upgrading its infrastructure.
