Bayern Munich Powers Through DFB-Pokal with Kane's Double
Bayern Munich’s trip to VfL Osnabrück promised jeopardy for about five minutes. Then reality, and Harry Kane, turned up.
A 4-1 win looks routine on paper. In the stands, it veered between chaos, hard graft and, by the end, a touch of boredom. Still, in early September, nobody in Munich will complain about cruising into the next round.
Strong XI, little mercy
Thomas Tuchel did not treat this as a night for experiments. The rotation was light, not wholesale, and that spelled trouble for a spirited Osnabrück side that simply could not live with Bayern’s quality for 90 minutes.
Kim Min-jae got the nod ahead of Dayot Upamecano, Josip Stanišić started instead of Konrad Laimer, and Nathaniel Brown was preferred to Alphonso Davies at left-back. In midfield, Tom Bischof was rewarded with a start over Aleksandar Pavlović – and he grabbed it with both hands.
No big surprises, then. Just a clear message: Bayern were here to get the job done.
Osnabrück’s dream start
What followed in the opening exchanges was pure cup madness.
In the 5th minute, a messy sequence at the back turned into a highlight-reel moment for Robin Meißner. Jonathan Tah and Kim were far from convincing, Tah slipped, Jonas Urbig’s positioning was overly aggressive, and Meißner punished the chaos with an outrageous strike. Osnabrück led 1-0. The stadium erupted. Bayern looked stunned.
For a moment, it felt like the night might be cursed.
But the Bundesliga champions quickly settled into a familiar pattern: pinning Osnabrück back, recycling possession, probing. The hosts refused to fold, defended with bite, and fed off a home crowd that was relentless in both volume and energy. The tifo was as impressive as the noise.
Ismael Saibari, though, struggled to find the same rhythm. He showed intent, drove at defenders, and tried to combine, but his execution lagged behind his ideas. It was a disjointed outing.
Kane flips the script, Bischof pounces
The pressure finally told in the 18th minute.
Joshua Kimmich lofted a ball toward Kane, who made a straight run into the box. An Osnabrück defender could only head the ball straight up, not away. It dropped invitingly and Kane lashed home a volley to make it 1-1. One chance, one ruthless finish. Bayern were level, and the mood shifted instantly.
Five minutes later, they were in front.
Michael Olise sliced open the defense with a precise pass to Luis Díaz. His effort was saved by Jonas Krumrey, but Bischof had followed the play perfectly and swept in the rebound for 2-1. The youngster was everywhere – snapping into challenges, pressing high, linking play. His work rate gave Osnabrück headaches all night.
At the back, the story was less smooth. The new partnership of Tah and Kim looked exactly that: new. Positioning was off at times, communication uncertain, and Tah in particular looked rusty and heavy in his movements, especially laterally. It is far too early for alarm bells, but the cohesion is not there yet.
On the left, Brown delivered a steady, unspectacular performance. Defensively sound, rarely troubled, but almost invisible going forward. The flow of the game never really ran down his flank, and that didn’t change even after the break. When Davies eventually replaced him, neither man had landed a decisive blow in what is shaping up to be one of Bayern’s most intriguing positional battles this season.
Right before halftime, Krumrey produced a superb stop to deny Olise and keep Osnabrück alive. Bayern went in 2-1 up, in control but not cruising.
Slow burn after the break
Osnabrück refused to go away. They chased, harried, and kept Bayern from turning the screw. The underdogs were exactly that in quality, but they were anything but passive. They fought like hell and made sure nothing came easy.
Tuchel turned to his bench in the 62nd minute, sending on Davies and Lennart Karl for Brown and Saibari. The shape remained similar, the pattern too. Bayern had the ball, Osnabrück had the running.
The tempo sagged. Legs looked heavy. The early-season “English Week” schedule began to show.
Then Olise lit it up.
Olise strikes, Kane closes it out
In the 73rd minute, Olise, now operating centrally after Saibari’s withdrawal, produced the moment that finally killed the contest. He controlled the ball under pressure – with an elbow involved in the process – and finished smartly for 3-1. In a VAR environment, it almost certainly gets chalked off. On this night, it stood.
That goal snapped Bayern out of their second-half drift. The malaise lifted. The game, for all practical purposes, was over.
There was still time for Kane to add polish.
In the 84th minute, Pavlović was brought down in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Kane stepped up, sent Krumrey the wrong way, and rolled in his second of the night to make it 4-1. Ice-cold, as always. Nobody in the ground doubted the outcome once he put the ball on the spot.
The closing minutes played out at a walking pace. The jeopardy had long gone, the spectacle too. Bayern saw it out without fuss.
Early days, open questions
This will not be remembered as a classic Bayern performance. The second half dragged, the defending early on was ragged, and some key combinations – especially Tah alongside Kim – need time.
Yet the essentials are there: Kane scoring freely, Olise influencing games, Bischof making a serious case for more minutes, and Brown keeping Davies honest in a genuine battle at left-back.
The season is young. The team is still learning each other’s movements and tendencies. The football will sharpen, the patterns will tighten, and the performances will become more aesthetically pleasing.
For now, Bayern are through, the scoreboard reads 4-1, and attention turns to the weekend clash with Schalke 04 – where the real questions about this side’s ceiling will start to demand answers.
