Harry Kane's Penalty Miss Sparks Controversy in Bayern's Victory Over Wolfsburg
Harry Kane rarely misses from 12 yards. In the Bundesliga, he simply didn’t. Twenty-four penalties, 24 goals. Then came minute 36, a scuffed divot, a slip, and a ball dragged wide of the right-hand post that jolted the Allianz into silence and handed Wolfsburg a lifeline they barely deserved.
The moment carried an edge that will run long after the final whistle. As Kane placed the ball, television replays later showed Jeanuël Belocian treading on the penalty spot, appearing to deliberately rough it up. Kane’s plant foot seemed to give way as he struck through the ball, his body shape collapsing at the crucial instant. The miss – his first-ever from the spot in Germany’s top flight – didn’t just waste Bayern’s dominance; it lit the fuse on a brewing controversy over whether the surface had been manipulated.
Bayern had already hemmed Wolfsburg in by then, pinning Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side back with wave after wave of attacks. Yet the scoreboard refused to move. The champions owned the ball, owned the territory, but not the lead. Wolfsburg, nervy but stubborn, clung on and reached the break level, still breathing in a game they should have been out of.
That fragile balance didn’t survive long after half-time.
Olise breaks it open
With frustration starting to seep into Bayern’s play, Michael Olise simply took charge. On 56 minutes, the winger picked up the ball on the right, squared up his marker and cut inside with intent. One touch to create the angle, one vicious, arcing strike into the far corner. Precision, power, and no mercy.
Kamil Grabara flung himself full stretch, but he was beaten from the moment Olise’s boot met leather. It was the kind of goal that changes not just a scoreline but a mood. Bayern finally had the advantage their second-half pressure demanded. Wolfsburg, who had spent much of the night in a compact shell, suddenly had to open up.
Earlier, they had looked more dangerous when they could spring forward. Tom Bischof had offered a warning in the first half, crashing a long-range effort against the crossbar that briefly stunned Bayern’s back line. Once Vincent Kompany’s men moved in front, that space disappeared. The champions tightened up, their defensive line stepped higher, and the breaks that once looked promising for Wolfsburg began to dissolve into hopeful punts.
Jamal Musiala almost killed the contest not long after Olise’s strike, weaving into space and forcing Grabara into an excellent save. The Wolfsburg keeper, left exposed too often, did enough to keep the scoreline respectable and his side’s faint hopes alive.
Wolfsburg left staring at the drop
Respectable, though, does nothing for Wolfsburg’s situation. This defeat drags them deeper into danger. They can no longer secure safety outright through the league table; that route is gone. Now the fight is to cling on to their current position, the one that leads only to the relegation play-offs and a two-legged gamble on survival.
Everything points towards a fraught final day. A trip to St. Pauli, a Millerntor-Stadion braced for a winner-takes-all showdown, and a season’s work hanging by a thread. Lose there, and the slide could become a collapse.
Hasenhuttl’s team did at least show more attacking spark than in recent weeks. They rallied late, throwing bodies forward, and almost snatched a dramatic equaliser when Mattias Svanberg’s effort thudded against the post in the dying moments. That chance, agonisingly close, summed up their night: effort, territory, half-open doors – but no ruthless touch to walk through them.
The absences of Mohamed Amoura and Kevin Paredes, left out for “disciplinary reasons”, hovered over the performance. Wolfsburg lacked an extra flash of invention and aggression in the final third, exactly the qualities those two might have provided. In a game decided by a single moment of quality, their omission felt even more pointed.
Bayern tune up for a shot at the double
For Bayern and Kompany, this was about more than three points. The Bundesliga title was wrapped up on Matchday 30; the league table no longer carries tension for them. What matters now is rhythm, sharpness, and a sense of control heading into the DFB-Pokal final against Stuttgart on May 23.
On that front, the night delivered. The second-half display brought the defensive solidity Kompany has demanded, with Wolfsburg largely shut down once Olise struck. The Kane penalty miss, freakish and controversial as it was, did not derail the champions. They regrouped, raised the tempo, and found a way through.
Bayern’s season will ultimately be judged on whether they can pair that already-secured title with the cup and soften the disappointment of a European campaign that fell short. Wolfsburg’s campaign, by contrast, now boils down to one brutal question: can they hold their nerve with the drop looming, or will this narrow defeat to the champions be remembered as the night the trapdoor began to creak open?
