"Every league needs its flagship, its clasico, Classique or derby. An event which rouses the senses regardless of current form or fortune. Bayern Munich appeared ready for the moment and Borussia Dortmund perhaps less so. Despite itself, Der Klassiker eventually sparked into life and we were left with a sense of what could have been. The cliche describes a game of two halves; this was more like a game of one half."
"By the end Harry Kane, having opened the scoring in that breeze of a first half with a breeze of a goal, nodding in simply from Joshua Kimmich's corner, was playing like a midfield general, box to box, scrapping in front of his own defence as much as he attacked (and there was time for that latter clause too, as he expertly slipped in Luis Diaz on the flank to create a curious, ultimately decisive second goal for Michael Olise)."
"This was virtuoso Kane, no longer the simultaneous No 9 and No 10 that has so conquered Germany in the last two-and-a-bit years but an all-round maestro, a 6, an 8 and a 10, as he described his match to Archie Rhind-Tutt on the touchline afterwards. If we must be so vulgar as to describe the England captain's excellence by numbers, he had already weighed in from a statistical perspective by heading the first-half opener."
Bayern Munich dominated the opening 45 minutes, turning the first half into an attack-versus-defence training session while Borussia Dortmund offered almost no attacking threat. Harry Kane opened the scoring with a header from Joshua Kimmich's corner and then operated as a box-to-box leader, defending as much as attacking, later creating the second, ultimately decisive goal for Michael Olise by slipping in Luis Diaz. Debate followed over a potential foul by Kane on Serhou Guirassy, with Lothar Matthaus calling it clear, yet Dortmund raised no protests. Dortmund's first-half expected-goals total stood at 0.00, underscoring their impotence.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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