Harry Kane to the rescue again as Bayern snaps 3‑game losing streak

Harry Kane to the rescue again.

The England forward scored twice for Bayern Munich to beat Leipzig 2‐1 in the Bundesliga and snap its three‐game losing streak across all competitions on Satur‐ day.

Kane secured three points for the Bavarian powerhouse by scoring in the first minute of stoppage time, taking his tally to 27 goals in 23 Bundesliga ap‐ pearances for Bayern.

Victory in Bayern's 1,000 home match in the Bundesliga kept it eight points behind leader Bayer Leverkusen with 11 rounds re‐ maining.

Bayern had previously lost 3‐0 at Leverkusen, then 1‐0 at Lazio in the Champions League, before Bochum came from behind to win 3‐2 in the Bundesliga last weekend.

It prompted the club to an‐ nounce on Wednesday that coach Thomas Tuchel would leave at the end of the season.

Tuchel found a metal box to sit on during the first half, and the Bayern coach went looking for it after the break so he could sit on it in the second half, too.

Amadou Haidara forced a save from Bayern's Manuel Neuer be‐ fore Mohamed Simakan went close for Leipzig as the visitors displayed more ambition in the second half.

But then Kane struck after a good run from Jamal Musiala on a counterattack in the 56th.

Neuer stopped Benjamin Šeško in a one‐on‐one in the 61st, but couldn't stop the Slovenian scor‐ ing in the 70th when he was de‐ ceived by Leon Goretzka's deflection.

Kane had the final say.

New era at Man United begins with a loss. Man City wins to close gap to Liverpool

The week started at Manchester United with Jim Ratcliffe com‐ pleting his purchase of a minor‐ ity stake and setting out a three‐year plan to return the club to the top of English soccer, knocking local rivals Manchester City and Liverpool "off their perch" in the process.

It ended with the team getting mostly outplayed in its own sta‐ dium by Fulham — an opponent in the bottom half of the stand‐ ings — and beaten 2‐1 to lose ground in the race for Champions League qualification.

Not only did sixth‐place United's four‐game winning run in the league come to an end on Saturday, fourth‐place Aston Villa beat Nottingham Forest 4‐2. That left an eight‐point gap be‐ tween Villa and United after 26 of 38 games.

It remains to be seen if the Pre‐ mier League will have four or five places in next season's Champi‐ ons League. Fifth‐place Totten‐ ham is three points ahead of

United and has a game in hand.

Failing to qualify for the lucra‐ tive competition will be a huge blow to United's status, not to mention its finances. It could also spell the end for United manager Erik ten Hag as Ratcliffe looks to raise the standards at the fallen giant.

Dave Brailsford, the sporting di‐ rector of Ratcliffe‐owned INEOS and now a member of United's board, was in the directors' box at Old Trafford to see the team concede the deciding goal on a counterattack in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Alex Iwobi tucked home the finish, sealing Fulham's first win at Old Trafford since 2003, with United's players having poured forward seeking a winner after Harry Maguire's equalizer in the 89th.

Douglas Luiz scored two of Villa's goals, with Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey also netting in its first home win of 2024. One of the three defeats at Villa Park this year came at the hands of United.

Second‐place City trimmed the gap to Liverpool to one point in the title race by beating Bournemouth 1‐0, with Phil Foden grabbing the 24th‐minute winner from a rebound after Er‐ ling Haaland had a shot parried out.

Arsenal will look to follow suit when Mikel Arteta's team, which is four points behind City in third place, hosts Newcastle later Sat‐ urday.

It was Foden's 16th goal of the season in all competitions, al‐ ready tying his most in a single season.

Bastoni scores late as Empoli continues improvement under Nicola with 3‑2 win at Sassuolo

Substitute Simone Bastoni scored deep in stoppage time to help Empoli snatch a 3‐2 win at Sassuolo on Saturday in a Serie A relegation fight and continue its positive run under Davide Nicola.

Bastoni was brought on with 10 minutes remaining and headed in a rare — and important — goal in the fourth minute of time added on.

Empoli was one spot above last place when Nicola replaced Au‐ relio Andreazzoli as coach last month but has not lost a game since, winning three of its six matches to move up to 13th, five points above the relegation zone.

Nicola has a reputation as an es‐ cape specialist, having helped Crotone and Salernitana avoid relegation in recent seasons.

Sassuolo, in contrast, is in free fall and has now lost five of its past six matches to leave it level on points with 18th‐place Hellas Verona.

The match was between sides going in the opposite direction and Empoli took the lead in the 11th minute when Sebastiano Luperto headed in Răzvan Marin's free kick.

Luperto hit his head on the base of the left post as he was doing so and the Empoli captain received treatment as he lay on the ground but was able to continue.

Empoli thought it had doubled its lead in the 23rd. Matteo Can‐ cellieri's cross went past every‐ one and came off the left post. Sassuolo defender Marcus Peder‐ sen headed the rebound off the line but it came straight to Youssef Maleh, who turned and fired it in but it was ruled out as he had controlled the ball with the help of his hand.

Sassuolo was given a way back into the match nine minutes into the second half when it was awarded a penalty following a video review for a foul on Ruan by Ardian Ismajli.

Andrea Pinamonti had missed a penalty against Atalanta last week but he made no mistake from the spot this time.

Empoli restored its lead with a penalty of its own 10 minutes later, with M'Baye Niang winning and converting the spot kick after his shot had been handled by Sas‐ suolo captain Gian Marco Ferrari.

Ferrari redeemed himself 13 minutes from time when he headed Nedim Bajrami's free kick into the bottom left corner.

However, Bastoni scored his first goal in nearly two years to snatch a vital win for Empoli.