Munich, Sep 29 2024-
Bayern Munich boss Vincent Kompany hopes Harry Kane’s ankle injury is not serious after the striker limped out of the 1-1 draw against Bayer Leverkusen.
In the Bundesliga top-of-the-table clash on Saturday evening against Leverkusen, Kane was forced off the pitch after 86 minutes with a knock and looked to be in discomfort.
“Hopefully it’s nothing serious. I’m not a doctor but I hope he can play against Aston Villa on Wednesday,” head coach Vincent Kompany commented after the final whistle.
Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen was cautiously optimistic, saying, “Harry took a blow but according to the doctors, it’s nothing serious. He’ll be examined in more detail tomorrow.”
Munich were dominant throughout, but after Robert Andrich and Aleksandar Pavlovic traded goals in the first half, another goal refused to come for the German record champions, who remain unbeaten league leaders.
Both sides cancelled each other out at first, with Bayern enjoying more of the ball. Musiala fired wide, Upamecano miscued a header and Guerreiro missed from distance. Leverkusen soon had to resort to a foul to stop Musiala’s solo run, with Olise curling the ensuing free-kick onto the roof of the net.
Leverkusen took the lead against the run of play when Granit Xhaka laid back from a corner to Andrich, whose low effort found the far corner of the net. Musiala miscued before Bayern deservedly levelled the scores, Pavlovic unleashing a belting half-volley that found the top corner of the net via Lukas Hradecky’s fingertips, Bayern Munich reports.
Bayern pressed for a winner in the second half, but Gnabry hit the post and saw his rebound crash off the bar. Hradecky denied Olise and Davies fired over before Kimmich put an effort wide.
Further chances came and went for Davies and Olise as the defending champions dropped increasingly deeper. Neuer, who was rarely called into action throughout, denied Nathan Tella. Laimer rifled just wide, but another goal somehow refused to come and Bayern were left to rue their missed chances to reward their dominance with a victory.
The result means Bayern top the table on 13 points from five matches, two clear of RB Leipzig. The Bavarians will be back in action on Wednesday when they travel to face Aston Villa in the Champions League.
“As the coach of FC Bayern you always want to win at home. The game went the way we would have wanted. What’s important is that we keep pushing and trust that we will win many games this way. The pressing was good, as was the way in which we came from behind, fought for every second ball and created chances.
“Leverkusen did very well defensively. It was a top match. There are always a couple things that we can improve upon. We had several good chances. It’s a shame that we didn’t win but we’ll keep going, there are still so many games,” said Kompany in a post match press conference. (Agnecy)
