Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane scored in each half to guide his team to a 3-0 victory over 10-man Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League round of 16 first-leg match on Wednesday.
The Bavarians earned their first victory in the last seven matches against Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen and will take a significant advantage into next week’s return,
For the visitors, second in the league behind Bayern, it was a bitterly disappointing evening, filled with mistakes and sloppy defending in their worst performance of the season.
The Bundesliga leaders, knocked out of the German Cup by Leverkusen, shot out of the blocks and established a ninth-minute lead through Kane’s powerful header.
Kane’s 30th goal across all competitions ended the striker’s four-game goal drought.
In a pulsating start, the visitors almost hit back five minutes later but Jeremie Frimpong, alone in front of goal, could not beat Manuel Neuer, making his 150th Champions League appearance, from close range.
Bayern had control of the game and came close to a second goal when Jamal Musiala headed against the crossbar.
Error-prone Leverkusen, with top strikers Victor Boniface and Patrick Schick left on the bench, were a shadow of the team who dominated Bayern in their goalless league draw just over two weeks ago.
Leverkusen keeper Matej Kovar gifted the hosts a second in the 54th minute after he dropped the ball from a Joshua Kimmich cross to allow Jamal Musiala to tap home.
Things got worse for the visitors when Nordi Mukiele was sent off following a second booking and Kane sealed Bayern’s comfortable win with a well-taken 75th-minute penalty and his 31st goal across all competitions.
The only sour note on an otherwise perfect evening for Bayern came in the 58th minute when Neuer had to be taken off injured.
The winners will face Feyenoord or Inter Milan in the last eight.
Raphinha struck a second-half winner to give Barcelona a 1-0 victory at Benfica on Wednesday in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
Barcelona’s teenage defender Pau Cubarsi was given a straight red card for a last-man foul on Vangelis Pavlidis in the 22nd minute.
But the visitors hung on with goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny putting in a brilliant performance.
The Polish veteran pulled off a string of brilliant saves to keep Barca in the game and his effort was rewarded in the 61st minute when Raphinha pounced on a poor defensive pass across the Benfica box.
He then capitalised on the mistake, firing a low strike that deflected off a defender before going in just inside the left post.
The star of the show, however, was Szczesny, who came out of retirement to play for Barca after Germany international Marc-Andre ter Stegen sustained a torn knee ligament in September.
“Szczesny saved us many times today, he is outstanding,” Barcelona midfielder Pedri told Spanish TV station Movistar Plus.
“You have to give a lot of credit for the team’s effort after going a man down so early in the game. On other days it was harder for us but today we hung on and defended really well.”
Szczesny’s brilliant night started 30 seconds after kickoff, when Pavlidis recovered the ball and fed Kerem Akturkoglu inside the box and he fired a low strike that the 34-year-old keeper kept out with a one-handed save.
The Polish keeper ended up making eight saves, five of those in the second half when Benfica piled on the pressure with over 60% of possession and 15 goal attempts.
Barca had only a couple, with Raphinha netting with their only shot on target in the second half.
Szczesny’s magic included a stunning reflex save to deny Fredrik Aursnes from close range early on after the break and an excellent stop to palm away Renato Sanches’s bullet strike.
