AfriqueCAN
Harry Kane converted a penalty and Thomas Müller scored in his club-record 710th game as Bayern Munich beat Freiburg 2-0 in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
Müller replaced new signing Michael Olize in the 59th minute to break a tie with goalkeeping great Sepp Maier on 709 career games in all competitions for Bayern.
Müller scored in the 78th when he controlled a cross from Serge Gnabry with one touch to take the ball away from Freiburg’s Maximilian Eggestein, then used his second touch to slam it past goalkeeper Florian Müller.
“Records aren’t so important for me, to be honest, instead it’s that I scored a really beautiful goal,” Müller told broadcaster DAZN. “Outstanding technique and then it goes in too, that’s what’s fun for me.”
The goal was Müller’s 150th in his Bundesliga career and he has now scored in 16 consecutive German top-tier seasons going back to the 2009-10 campaign.
The 34-year-old forward was setting a club record for the second time in as many games after marking his 474th Bundesliga game for Bayern last week. That also broke a tie with Maier.
Earlier, Kane’s first Bundesliga goal of the season gave Bayern the lead from the penalty spot after Kane won a spot kick when he headed the ball onto Freiburg defender Max Rosenfelder’s outstretched arm.
Rosenfelder had seemed to raise the arm to steady himself as Kane jumped while holding his other shoulder. The referee didn’t give the penalty on the field but acted after viewing a video replay.
Deep into added time, new Bayern signing João Palhinha gave away a penalty for handball but Freiburg’s Lucas Höler fired over the bar. That ensured Bayern didn’t concede in Vincent Kompany’s first home game as coach.
Bayern is one of three Bundesliga teams to win both of their opening games this season, along with Heidenheim and Leipzig, which ended champion Bayer Leverkusen’s 15-month unbeaten league run Saturday.
Another Bayern player scored Sunday as on-loan Paul Wanner converted a penalty for Heidenheim on his team’s way to a 4-0 win. The 18-year-old Wanner scored the spot kick in the ninth minute after a handball by an Augsburg defender. Léo Scienza made it 2-0 in the 30th before second-half goals from Adrian Beck and Maximilian Breunig secured the win.
Heidenheim has won all five of its games in all competitions this season. It’s only the team’s second Bundesliga season and its first in continental competition after qualifying for the Europa Conference League, where it will play Chelsea.
Heidenheim’s United States national team forward Lennard Maloney went off injured shortly before half time after a collision with Augsburg’s Fredrik Jensen, whose knee struck Maloney in the back as they challenged for the ball at a corner.
