Week one at VfL Wolfsburg was far from pretty from Bayern Munich in Vincent Kompany’s first Bundesliga match as manager of the club, but they got the job done, winning 3-2 thanks to a late winner from Serge Gnabry. The win followed up a 4-0 routing of SSV Ulm in the first-round matchup in the DFB-Pokal the week prior, seeing Kompany going two for two from his first pair of competitive matches in charge. Against Freiburg in match week 2 of the Bundesliga, it was a far more routine 2-0 win for Bayern, who perhaps should have scored more than just twice at the Allianz Arena.
On the European front, in the new look format of the UEFA Champions League, Bayern have been drawn to a group alongside Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, SL Benfica, Aston Villa, Dinamo Zagreb, Shakhtar Donetsk, Feyenoord, and Slovan Bratislava. Despite there being a new look and format to the biggest club competition in Europe, Bayern will be looking to go one better than last season under Thomas Tuchel and make it to the final this time around, which is set to be hosted by the Allianz Arena.
The transfer window in Germany is officially closed and Bayern ended the window with having brought in Hiroki, Ito, Michael Olise, and João Palhinha in addition to getting Josip Stanišić back from his successful loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen. In the opposite direction, Bayern bid farewell to both Matthijs De Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui, who both joined Manchester United.
With a new manager and a sightly new-look squad, Bayern still has all the right tools to succeed, and Harry Kane can sense that the right hunger is there within team, especially after last season having been well below the club’s high standards. “I feel there’s a hunger in the team especially after last year. For a team like Bayern, not to win any trophies was a big disappointment for us. I felt a real hunger in training and in games. Of course it will be tough because there are good teams in the Bundesliga, but we have to back ourselves to go and win the title,” the England skipper explained to kicker at the team’s annual Paulaner photoshoot ahead of the Oktoberfest season kicking off (via @iMiaSanMia).
Photo by Luciano Lima/Getty Images
Personally, minus any form of club silverware, last season was still prolific for Kane, who tallied a total of 44 goals and 12 assists from 44 appearances across all competitions for the Rekordmeister, but he would surely trade in any of his individual accolades for a winner’s medal. For him, having come so close to another Champions League final and then losing in the Euro 2024 final with England for the second time in just three years will add even more motivation to significantly improve upon Bayern’s last season and win silverware this season.
