Bayern Munich Overcomes Osnabrück with Kane's Brace in DFB-Pokal
Bayern Munich needed all of five minutes in Osnabrück to be reminded that cup nights can turn nasty in a hurry. They still walked away with a 4-1 win that never truly felt in doubt.
A strong XI, a clear message
This was no experimental Bayern lineup. Kim Min-jae started ahead of Dayot Upamecano, Josip Stanišić got the nod over Konrad Laimer, and Nathaniel Brown came in at left-back for Alphonso Davies. Tom Bischof, once the great hope at Hoffenheim, was handed a start instead of Aleksandar Pavlović — and he grabbed it with both hands.
Thomas Tuchel’s selection told its own story: Bayern were not in the mood to flirt with an upset. For Osnabrück, that spelled trouble.
Chaos, a slip, and a stunner
Then came the madness.
In the 5th minute, a loose and jittery Bayern backline gifted the hosts a dream start. Jonathan Tah and Kim were slow to react, Tah slipped, Jonas Urbig’s positioning behind them didn’t help, and Robin Meißner stepped up with an outrageous strike. 1-0 Osnabrück. The stadium erupted. Bayern looked briefly stunned.
The home crowd fed off it. The noise was relentless, the tifo behind the goal a statement of intent. Osnabrück were up for a fight and made Bayern work for every yard.
Bayern settle, Kane bites back
The shock didn’t last long.
Bayern seized control of the ball and penned Osnabrück in, but the breakthrough took time. Ismael Saibari, trying to knit the attack together, struggled to find his rhythm. His aggression and ideas were there; the execution wasn’t.
On 18 minutes, the dam finally broke. Joshua Kimmich floated a ball into Harry Kane, making a direct run through the middle. A desperate defensive header only popped the ball into the air. Kane watched it drop and thumped a volley home. Clinical. 1-1, and the mood shifted instantly.
Osnabrück had barely reset when Bayern struck again.
Five minutes later, Michael Olise sliced the defense open with a superb pass to Luis Díaz. The winger’s effort was saved by Jonas Krumrey, but Bischof arrived right on cue to bury the rebound and make it 2-1. The youngster had his moment, and he wasn’t done.
Bischof shines, backline wobbles
From there, Bischof turned into a constant irritant for Osnabrück. He pressed, chased, and harassed. His work rate stood out in a Bayern midfield that sometimes drifted through the gears.
At the back, it was a different story. Tah and Kim looked like a partnership still very much under construction. Positioning was off, movements weren’t in sync, and the entire backline carried a hint of chaos. Tah, in particular, looked rusty — slow side-to-side, not as fluid as Bayern will need him to be. It’s not panic time, but the warning signs were clear.
On the left, Brown delivered a steady, if unspectacular, first half. Defensively solid, rarely troubled, but barely involved going forward. The way the match flowed simply didn’t suit his attacking instincts, and that didn’t change before Davies replaced him later on.
The left-back duel between Brown and Davies is quietly becoming one of the most intriguing subplots of Bayern’s season. On this evidence, neither man landed a knockout blow.
Just before the break, Krumrey produced an excellent stop to deny Olise and keep Osnabrück in touch. Bayern went in 2-1 up, on top but not quite out of sight.
Substitutions, a lull, and Olise’s moment
The second half sagged.
Osnabrück kept fighting, closing spaces and making life awkward. Bayern’s tempo dropped. The early-season grind and the demands of an English week began to show in heavy legs and slower passing.
On 62 minutes, Tuchel rolled the dice. Brown and Saibari came off, Davies and Lennart Karl came on. The pattern barely changed. Bayern controlled, but without urgency.
So Olise took matters into his own hands.
Shifted into a central attacking midfield role after Saibari’s exit, he finally got his reward in the 73rd minute. He battled to control the ball — using his elbow in a way that would almost certainly have drawn VAR intervention on another night — and finished neatly to make it 3-1. No review here. Goal stands. Game over.
That strike didn’t just kill the contest; it snapped Bayern out of their second-half drift.
Kane closes it out from the spot
Osnabrück’s resistance finally cracked again in the 84th minute. Pavlović, on as a substitute, was brought down in the box and the referee pointed straight to the spot.
Kane stepped up, unbothered, and rolled in his second of the night. 4-1. No fuss, no drama, no doubt.
The final minutes played out quietly. The crowd had spent its fury early, Bayern had done enough, and the spectacle faded rather than exploded.
Work to do, but job done
This won’t be remembered as a classic Bayern performance. The second half dragged, the backline wobbled, and the overall display lacked the sharpness that will be demanded later in the season.
But it’s early. The team is still learning each other’s movements, new partnerships like Tah–Kim and the Brown–Davies battle are taking shape, and the rhythm will come.
For now, Bayern are safely through in the DFB-Pokal, Kane is already in ruthless cup form, Bischof has strengthened his case for more minutes, and Olise has shown another glimpse of his quality in a central role.
Next up: Schalke 04 at the weekend, and a clearer picture of where this Bayern side is really heading.
