England forward, Harry Kane, scored a hat-trick for German league champion, Bayern Munich, assisting the club thrash VFB Stuttgart 5-0 during a Bundesliga game at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
Kane, who came from the bench, led the team in a ruthless second-half display to deny their host any opportunity of securing a point from the game played before a crowd-filled stadium.
Bayern arrived in Stuttgart on Saturday looking to maintain their handsome lead over second-placed RB Leipzig at the top of the Bundesliga, while Stuttgart were hoping to bounce back from their 2-1 defeat at Hamburg last weekend.
While both teams were aiming to outsmart each other for a better result, Austrian midfielder, Konrad Laimer’s sublime back-heeled finish gave the visitors an early lead, putting pressure on the host.
The goal crowned the visitors’ efforts after starting brightly, with Nicolas Jackson almost putting Bayern ahead inside five minutes, firing into the side-netting from a tight angle.
Vincent Kompany’s team did not have to wait long to find a breakthrough, though, as Konrad Laimer exchanged passes with Michael Olise before cleverly backheeling the ball past Alexander Nübel.
Stuttgart responded well, though, and thought they had equalised shortly before half-time when Nikolas Nartey headed home from Bilal El Khannouss’s free-kick, but the goal was disallowed for offside after a lengthy Video Assistant Referee review.
Not relenting on their push for an equaliser, Chema Andrés then came agonisingly close to levelling in first-half stoppage time, but his effort from Nartey’s cut-back whistled just wide.
Both sides traded chances after the break, with Olise firing over for Bayern and Deniz Undav having a shot deflected over the bar by Minjae Kim.
As the minutes went by, there was little to choose between the sides at that stage, but Kane needed just six minutes to get his name on the scoresheet after replacing Jackson on the hour mark, picking up a loose ball 25 yards out and arrowing a thunderous low drive into the bottom corner past Nübel.
As Stuttgart pushed forward in search of a goal back, Bayern ruthlessly exploited the spaces left behind by Sebastian Hoeneß’s charges.
Josip Stanišić squeezed a low shot past Nübel to make it 3-0, before the visitors were awarded a penalty when Lorenz Assignon handled Olise’s goal-bound effort on the line.
Assignon was shown a straight red card, and Kane dispatched the spot-kick with typical precision to make it 4-0.
While many of the fans were about preparing for their exit from the stadium, the England striker then completed his hat-trick two minutes from time by converting another Olise assist from close range.
