BERLIN, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Harry Kane's brace sealed a 4-3 win for Bayern Munich over stubborn Holstein Kiel in the 20th round of Bundesliga on Saturday.
The Bavarians controlled possession from the kick-off but couldn't break down a well-placed Holstein defence.
Instead, the visitors came close to breaking the deadlock, but Phil Harres was unable to finish off a counterattack in the 12th minute.
The hosts opened the scoring seven minutes later when Joshua Kimmich found Jamal Musiala, who slotted home from eight meters.
Kimmich almost doubled the lead in the 25th minute, but his freekick hit the post.
Kiel continued to threaten, though, and Kim Min-jae had to scramble Lewis Holtby's shot off the line.
Bayern remained patient and continued to press forward, with Aleksandar Pavlovic forcing Kiel goalkeeper Timon Weiner into action before Konrad Laimer's promising shot was blocked just before the break.
The hosts' efforts were finally rewarded in the dying seconds of the first half when Kingsley Coman's whipped-in cross allowed Kane to nod home for a 2-0 lead.
The German giants picked up where they left off after the restart, with Kane completing his brace from Raphael Guerreiro's pinpoint cross.
Kiel couldn't put up any resistance, but Bayern was not done yet as joker Serge Gnabry volleyed home a fourth on 54 minutes.
Bayern looked to have put the result beyond doubt, but Finn Porath pulled one back on the hour mark. Passive Bayern conceded twice in stoppage time to make things interesting again, with Steven Skrzykski scoring twice in quick succession. In the end, however, the German giants held on for a 4-3 victory.
The result keeps Bayern at the top of the table, nine points clear of defending champion Bayer Leverkusen. Meanwhile, newly promoted Kiel remains in the relegation zone, four points adrift of safety.
"If you analyze the first 80 minutes and see that we were leading 4-0, it was a pretty complete performance from us. The last ten minutes are something we need to review as a team. We know we can't allow such a shift in momentum, and that happened today. But no one can take away the fact that we performed well for 80 minutes," said Bayern coach Vincent Kompany.
Elsewhere, Stuttgart slipped to fifth after suffering its second successive league defeat, going down 2-1 to Borussia Monchengladbach. Borussia Dortmund recorded its first win of 2025 with a 2-1 victory over Heidenheim. Augsburg held newly promoted St. Pauli to a 1-1 draw. Freiburg beat bottom side Bochum 1-0 and Leipzig shared the spoils with Union Berlin to move up to fourth.
Earlier on Friday, Werder Bremen ended a four-game winless streak with a 1-0 victory over Mainz. ■
