Kane shines as Bayern Munich defeat Chelsea 3-1 despite brilliance of Palmer

Bayern Munich secure three well-fought points to kick off their Champions League campaign with

thanks to Harry Kane’s well-taken brace and an unfortunate own goal from Chelsea’s Trevoh

Chalobah.

Harry Kane netted either side of half time, but Bayern first hit in the 20th minute as a neat piece of

skill and cross from Michael Olise on the right edge of the box rebounded off the hapless knee of

Trevoh Chalobah into his own net.

England’s frontman Harry Kane made it 2-0 from the spot after a reckless challenge from Moises

Caicedo, sending Sanchez the wrong way and slotting it confidently into the bottom right-hand

corner. An 88% conversion rate (92/104) from 12 yards out speaks for itself.

However, Chelsea hit back soon after, as Palmer picked up the loose ball inside his own half and

glided forward, and after a clever one-two with Gusto, coolly hit it first time past the outstretched

arms of Manuel Neuer into the top corner. Palmer strikes on his 100th appearance for the Blues,

making it 45 goals and 28 assists (73 goals & assists) in his eye-catching start to life as a Chelsea

man.

Half-time: Bayern Munich 2-1 Chelsea.

Bayern seriously put the foot on the accelerator to start the second half. Two big saves from

Robert Sanchez denied Kane and Olise of making it 3-1, but Bayern weren’t done there.

The Chelsea momentum that was building up nicely as the game ticked towards the half time

interval was soon abolished, as a careless touch and swipe from Malo Gusto in the 63rd minute

fell into the path of the one man no team would want through on goal: Harry Kane.

An emphatic finish past the gloves of Sanchez, who had denied Kane of a second earlier in the half, saw the ball nestle into the far corner, making it 3-1 to the Germans. Since the start of the 2024-25

Champions League season, no player has scored more in the competition than Harry Kane (on

par with Barcelona’s Raphinha with 13 goals).

With less than 10 minutes to go of normal time, Palmer thought he had set up a blockbuster finale

after he got on the end of a pin-point pass from substitute Andrey Santos and poked the ball past

the out coming Neuer, only to be denied by the offside flag after a VAR check.

Chelsea’s first match back in the Champions League in 2 and a half years ends in defeat despite

the usual brilliance of Cole Palmer.

Kane’s emphatic brace takes his Champions League tally for Bayern to 21, meaning he becomes

only the third player in history to score 20+ goals in the Champions League for two or more

different clubs, joining the almighty Cristiano Ronaldo, who has netted 105 times for Real Madrid

and 21 for Manchester United, and Neymar, who has 21 goals for Barcelona and 22 for PSG

under his belt.