Brace for Kane, maiden goal for Jackson – Bayern stay perfect at Pafos

They wanted to enjoy the first Champions League home game in the club’s history. “A big dream comes true,” revealed Pafos coach Juan Carlos Carcedo before the match, and you could hear the noise rise every time Pafos just had possession in the first few minutes. Carcedo wanted his rank outsiders to also “be brave” at home, and take the few chances “that Bayern offer us”. Ninety minutes later, it was clear: FC Bayern didn’t offer Pafos FC the slighest chance. The 5-1 scoreline was kind on the Cypriot champions, who were saved by the post alone on three occassions. The full-time stats showed 26 attempts on goal to six.

Sensational start to the season

With it, the German record champions registered their ninth win in nine competitive matches this season – a simply sensational start to the campaign. “In the end it’s a 5-1 win at Pafos. Obviously we were favourites but in terms of the performance, everything was as it should be,” said a satisfied Joshua Kimmich afterwards.

The biggest opponent before kick-off, 2,400 kilometres south-east of Munich, was rather their own minds. The team quickly acted on the words of their coach, who repeatedly warned of Pafos. In the small stadium with just under 10,000 fans – including around 1,000 travelling supporters – Pafos started with plenty of enthusiasm, but this courage was soon extinguished, like a candle lit by someone on the stormy Cypriot south coast. With a focused and professional display, Bayern left no doubt that they would come away with the three points from the first away match of this Champions League season. With their usual high pressing, the visitors immediately went about retrieving possession on the few occassions they lost the ball and played with purpose towards the Pafos goal. The result was overwhelming possession for the Bavarians, who increasingly tighted the noose around their opponents, who defended with everything they had from the start.

‘Harry’s putting them away’

Having hit the post in artistic style after nine minutes, Harry Kane gave Bayern the lead from Michael Olise’s pass on 15 – his 101st goal in his 105th competitive appearance for Bayern. “It obviously helps us when he scores two or three goals every game,” commented Kimmich. “Harry’s doing really well at the moment, you have to say. He’s putting them away.” By this point, the visitors had 80 percent possession. It was Kane’s 22nd Champions League goal for the club, already one more than he managed in five more appearances in the competition for Tottenham. 

Bayern continued to play with seriousness and concentration and made it 2-0 in the 20th minute, Raphaël Guerreiro getting on the scoresheet after a one-two with first-time Champions League starter Nicolas Jackson. Olise again initiated the move with high-speed football – the Frenchman was too hot to handle as the pivotal point down the right flank. As was Bayern’s overall play, which was at least one level too fast for the spirited hosts. Pafos just couldn’t contain the wave of Munich attacks. After several stepovers, Olise set up Jackson for his first Bayern goal to make it 3-0. “Nico was fantastic today: a goal, an assist and almost another goal at the end,” praised Kane. “I’m very pleased for him. We’ll need him all season, hopefully he stays fit and fresh.”

The ninth shot on goal also ended up in the Pafos net four minutes later, Kane somehow spinning away from a number of bodies to net his fourth goal in two Champions League games this season as well as his first brace in a first half. With 34 minutes on the clock, Bayern led by four goals for only the second time in a UCL away match – the only other time was in the 7-1 victory against Roma in October 2014.

Pafos with shot out of the blue

And Munich kept their foot on the gas pedal. It should’ve been five before half-time when Luis Díaz went through on goal, but instead of squaring to Konrad Laimer, the Colombian was denied one-on-one by goalkeeper Neofitos Michael – Pafos’ best player on the night. However, the best moment from the home side’s point of view was provided by Mislav Orsić, who was given a bit too much space after a misplaced pass in the Bayern defence and pulled a goal back with a cracking strike. It was only the second shot on goal for Pafos, who remained clearly inferior with 34 passes in the attacking third compared to 231. “We saw in the second half that it wouldn’t be so easy against them,” said Kimmich. “Obviously we decided the contest early, but they have qualities that could cause problems for other teams.”

The free highlights of the game against Pafos:

The fifth goal just didn’t want to come as easily in this period. Kimmich headed the rebound from a powerful Aleksandar Pavlović effort wide of the gaping goal, Jackson missed a one-v-one opportunity – but this time Olise converted the rebound with a fine finish from a tight angle to finally make it 5-1 on 68 minutes. For head coach Vincent Kompany, that was the trigger for several substitutions, with Lennart Karl also coming off the bench to become Bayern’s third-youngest player in the Champions League at the age of 17 years and 220 days. He allowed Olise a well-deserved breather – the last time he provided two assists and a goal was in the 5-1 victory against Shakhtar Donetsk last season.

‘It spreads across the whole club’

Only the post spared Pafos’ home debut in Europe’s premier club competition from being more painful, preventing another attempt from Jackson as well as a shot from substitute Serge Gnabry. That didn’t change Manuel Neuer’s 101st Champions League win, which statistically draws him level with Iker Casillas. Nineteen attempts to five and the final score of 5-1 were the impressive evidence of a physically, tactically and technically brilliant display from Bayern. “We have an atmosphere and spirit in this team – because it’s teams who win, not individuals,” declared Jan-Christian Dreesen at the banquet in the team hotel around midnight. The CEO continued: “It’s a real joy and it’s good for all of us, it spreads across the whole club, which is great!”

“Last year we struggled away from home in the league phase, so this time we wanted to build on the momentum we’ve had since the start of the season – especially after the Chelsea game too,” added Kane. “We have this momentum and desperately want to keep it up.” The next chance to do that comes on Saturday at Eintracht Frankfurt, who lost 5-1 to Atlético at the same time. A tenth win in the tenth match beckons.

All the reaction to the clash with Pafos: