Soccer Football - UEFA Champions League - Bayern Munich v Union Saint-Gilloise - Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany - January 21, 2026 Bayern Munich's Harry Kane scores their first goal REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth
MUNICH, Germany, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Bayern Munich top scorer Harry Kane struck twice in three minutes to carry his team to a 2-0 victory over Belgium's Union Saint-Gilloise in the Champions League on Wednesday and book their ticket for the knockout stage with a game to spare.
Man-of-the-match Kane headed in at the near post from a Michael Olise corner in the 52nd and added another goal from a 55th-minute penalty after he was brought down, to end a rare three-game goal drought in the competition.
The England captain, who now leads the scorers' list with seven goals, could have sealed his hat-trick in the 80th minute but hammered his second penalty on to the crossbar.
The hosts were down to 10 men from the 64th minute after defender Kim Min-jae was sent off with a second booking.
Bayern are in second spot in the league phase on 18 points with one game left to play, and are guaranteed a top-eight finish that leads to the knockout stage. The top eight teams advance to the Round of 16 automatically while the next 16 teams go into a playoff.
"It's the Champions League; it can't always be easy," said Bayern coach Vincent Kompany. "I would not say the opponent was better in the first half, we also had chances, but the pace was quite slow."
"In the second half we played very well despite the red card. It was a strong reaction once again by the team."
The Bavarians, with the Allianz Arena's Suedkurve stand empty following UEFA punishment for the use of flares in a previous match, had the visitors pinned in their own half early on and had an early chance with Kane.
Union, who had won two of their three previous away games in the competition this season and are 31st in the table, came agonisingly close themselves in the 29th minute but keeper Manuel Neuer pulled off a world-class save to stop Promise David's point-blank header.
It took a set piece for Bayern to break the deadlock with Kane being left unmarked at the near post to nod in Olise's corner.
Just three minutes later Kane was brought down in the box and the England captain stepped up to double their lead with a well-taken penalty.
The dismissal of Kim shifted the balance somewhat but Bayern should have scored again with Kane sendinghis second spot kick on to the crossbar and Olise somehow managing to miss the target completely from two metres out in the 85th.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Clare Fallon)
