Mainz 1-2 Bayern Munich: Kane shines with assists as Bayern stay top

Bayern Munich won 2-1 away at Mainz to head into the international break at the top of the Bundesliga.

Harry Kane's assists for Joshua Kimmich in the first half and Lennart Karl in the second earned the victory, while Phillip Tietz's stoppage-time goal proved little more than a consolation for Mainz as the defending champions collected all three points.

Bayern opened the scoring in the 14th minute. Kimmich latched onto Kane's pass and fired a powerful shot into the top right corner, leaving goalkeeper Robin Zentner helpless and putting his side 1-0 up.

In the closing moments of the first half, Mainz came very close to scoring through Lee Jae-sung. The South Korean headed Nadiem Amiri's cross into the net after goalkeeper Manuel Neuer came off his line and was injured in the process, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

The Bavarians kept control of the game after the break and doubled their lead. Karl followed up well when Kane's effort was parried by the goalkeeper and calmly slotted the ball into the bottom left corner: 0-2.

The hosts pulled one back in the 92nd minute when Tietz headed in Benedict Hollerbach's cross, but the score did not change in the remaining minutes.

Kane on the pitch as a playmaker

Having broken goalscoring records, Harry Kane has effectively transformed into an elite playmaker this season, providing two assists in each of three of his last five Bundesliga matches. The England star had needed his first 98 league appearances in total to reach that tally.

Taking his league assist count to eight, the experienced forward set a new record for the most assists in the first nine matchdays since the 2004-05 season. Kane has also already matched his total assist numbers from the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.

Meanwhile, Manuel Neuer, aged 40 years and 225 days, suffered an unfortunate injury in the match in which he became the oldest player to appear for Bayern in the Bundesliga. Young talent Karl, for his part, scored in consecutive matches for the first time since December 2025.

Bayern Munich, who remain the only team in Europe's big five leagues unbeaten in all competitions this season (11 wins, 5 draws), earned a deserved victory with 26 shots at goal and 2.67 expected goals (xG).