Remember when Harry Kane never scoring in August was a curio that felt like it needed an exorcism? Nobody in Germany remembers, and an era when Bayern Munich’s centre-forward seemed even vaguely stoppable seems like a very long time ago. The optics of his imperious second-half hat-trick in this opening game were very welcome, particularly in the light of the Bundesliga’s groundbreaking new TV deal which meant viewers in the England captain’s home country could see Kane do his thing on the BBC or on a choice of two different YouTube platforms.
Yet the remarkable thing about Bayern’s first-night salvo is that they still would have destroyed RB Leipzig, one of their more challenging domestic hurdles of recent years, had Kane not showed up to the party. It was the dictionary definition of ruthlessness but Ole Werner, the new Leipzig coach, could have done nothing in his half-time team talk to change the course of events. By the interval, Michael Olise’s double and a brilliant Luis Díaz debut strike in between already had Bayern home and hosed. Kane’s contribution was merely extra cream and cherry if you were Bayern, or salt if you were Leipzig.
