Bayern Munich eked out a 2-2 draw against Union Berlin thanks to a late Harry Kane equaliser at the Alte Forsterei. The England captain's goal spared the blushes of Manuel Neuer, who let a tame Danilho Doekhi shot cross the line to open the scoring. A brilliant Luis Diaz effort had the scores level at the half, before Doehki's bundled effort appeared to win the game for Die Eisernen the 83rd minute.
Getty Images SportKane bails out Neuer with late equalizer
Unperturbed by the visitors' 100% record to start the season, Union took the game to Bayern from the off, and thought they were ahead when Ilyas Ansah nodded home after Tom Rothe headed the ball back across the mouth of Manuel Neuer's goal. However, the Alte Forsterei was silenced when it was revealed the Ghanaian striker was in an offside position following an intervention from the VAR officials.
Bayern have blown everyone away in their scintillating start to the 2025-26 season, however, Steffen Baumgart's side refused to be cowed, battling for every loose ball and frustrating Vincent Kompany's side. While the Bavarian giants dominated the ball, they struggled to fashion any meaningful chances.
The hosts deservedly took the lead in the 27th minute, when the visitors failed to clear their lines from a Janik Harberer corner. The ball rebounded to Doekhi at the edge of the box. His scuffed effort spun through a mass of bodies, eventually squirming under an uncharacteristically weak hand by Neuer.
The 34-time German champions levelled the scores just ten minutes later with their first shot on goal. Luis Diaz did well to collect an overhit Josip Stanisic pass, sliding to keep the ball from going behind for a goal kick. In one movement he turned the ball past an on-rushing defender, before rifling a shot into the roof of Fredrik Ronnow's net from an impossibly tight angle.
Union refused to let their level dip after the break, harrying their much-vaunted opposition and breaking forward without fashioning any clear cut opportunities. Meanwhile, Michael Olise should have done better on the hour mark, as his low curled effort was easily saved by Ronnow at his near post.
The hosts' eventually began to sit deeper and deeper, inviting pressure but ultimately rebuffing all of Bayern's advances on their goal. Union's wing backs, both starters Rothe and Janik Harberer, as well as their respective replacements Josip Juranovic and Derrick Kohn, defended admirably in one-on-one situations against Olise and Luis Diaz, forcing the visitors to recycle the ball with no chance of scything through a resolute block.
All that defending was rewarded, after Olise pulled down Kohn on the break, the resulting free kick again fell to Doehki. The defender managed to bundle home once more, giving the hosts a 2-1 lead in the final 10 minutes.
Bayern mounted an all out assault on Ronnow's goal. Eventually the pressure told, with Kane ending a quiet day of the office by nodding home an Oliver Bischof cross deep into injury time. Still, this is the first time Kompany's side have failed to win a competitive game in the new season, a massive feather in the cap for Steffen Bamguart and his heroic players.
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In a game featuring Kane, Olise and Diaz, you would not have put any money on Doekhi to be the man to score a brace. Then again, the Dutch defender has built a reputation in Berlin for scoring crucial late goals from set pieces. His second bundled effort would have gone down as the most famous of the lot, had it not been for Kane's intervention.
The big loser
It has to be Neuer. The man that has set the standard for the modern goalkeepers for so long has earned that reputation for his brilliant distribution and sweeping antics, but underpinning that has been his dependency between the sticks. The idea that he would let such a tame shot past him even a few years ago would be laughable. His error cost his side their hitherto perfect start to the 2025/26 season.
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