Mathys Tel stole Harry Kane’s thunder as he came off the bench to head Bayern Munich to a hard-fought Bundesliga victory at Borussia Monchengladbach.
Former Tottenham striker Kane failed to find the back of the net in the league for the first time in three starts for his new club on a night when they had to come from behind to win 2-1 at Borussia Park.
Ko Itakura had headed the home side into a first-half lead, but an inspirational Leroy Sane levelled after the break to set the stage for Tel to win it at the death and preserve the reigning champions’ perfect start despite the heroics of debutant Monchengladbach keeper Moritz Nicolas.
The visitors started strongly with Kane and Leon Goretzka threatening from a series of early corners and as the England captain forged a working partnership with Thomas Muller, it was they who looked the most likely to force their way ahead.
They might have done just that had Sane managed to hit the target after running on to Muller’s pull-back, but he steered his effort wide.
However, Monchengladbach served warning with 25 minutes gone when Marvin Friedrich’s header clipped Sven Ulreich’s crossbar, and it was the hosts who took the lead as the game reached the half-hour mark.
Max Wober flicked on a right-wing corner at the near post and Itakura timed his jump to perfection to send a looping header back across Ulreich and inside the far post to spark wild celebrations in the stands.
Ulreich denied Julian Weigl a second goal inside two minutes, but Bayern responded in determined fashion and it took a fine save by Nicolas to push Sane’s powerfully-struck effort on to his crossbar after Muller had unlocked the home defence.
Nicolas once again intervened in timely fashion to prevent Kane from reaching Kingsley Coman’s whipped cross six minutes after the restart, and Itakura found himself in the right place at the right time to clear Goretzka’s header off the line after Coman had caused problems once again.
Muller fired wide as Thomas Tuchel’s men started to turn the screw with Sane very much coming to the fore.
The former Manchester City forward finally made the pressure tell with 59 minutes gone, collecting Joshua Kimmich’s clipped pass on his chest before scuffing a shot past the advancing keeper to level.
Substitute Serge Gnabry had a glorious opportunity to put Bayern ahead when he met Kimmich’s 70th-minute free-kick with a firm header, but Nicolas stood tall to block with his shoulder, and he repeated the dose to deny Sane from point-blank range with nine minutes remaining, although an offside flag would have come to his rescue in any case.
However, he was beaten for a second time with three minutes remaining when Tel met Kimmich’s corner with a fine downward header to win it.
Nicolas produced another important save at the death to keep out substitute Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s header with Kane unable to reach the rebound in time to maintain his goalscoring run.
