Kane and Bayern swat aside Atalanta

MUNICH:

Harry Kane scored in each half as Bayern Munich thumped Atalanta 4-1 at home in the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday, winning 10-2 on aggregate to book a quarter-final date with Real Madrid.

Captaining Bayern in the Champions League for the first time, Kane converted a penalty with 25 minutes played and added another goal early in the second half, bringing his career Champions League tally to 50 in 66 games.

Lennart Karl and Luis Diaz also got on the scoresheet for the hosts as Bayern again steamrolled the visitors, who picked up a late consolation through Lazar Samardzic.

"I think whenever you have a lead like we did, sometimes it's easy to be a little bit complacent," Kane, who missed the first leg with an injury, told DAZN.

"But we said before the game we want to win in the same style that we did in the first leg. It's sometimes harder to get up for a game like this, but we were there from minute one to minute 95."

Bayern last faced Real in the semi-finals of the 2023-24 competition, crashing out to two Joselu goals in the dying minutes. Bayern have not beaten the Spanish giants since the 2011-12 semi-finals.

Few doubted Bayern would progress after their dominant 6-1 win in Bergamo -- no team has ever overturned a five-goal deficit -- but the Bundesliga leaders were forced to pick a weaker side on Wednesday due to injuries and suspensions.

With Jamal Musiala, Manuel Neuer and Alphonso Davies injured, Joshua Kimmich and Michael Olise suspended, Bayern received some rare good news from the medical department when goalkeeper Jonas Urbig overcame a concussion and was cleared to play.

Atalanta coach Raffaele Palladino was realistic, saying pre-match his charges were playing for the pride of Italian football as the only Serie A team left in the competition.

 

Atalanta's resistance broken

The visitors were energetic early but their resistance was broken midway through the first-half when VAR found Giorgio Scalvini handled the ball from close range, bringing Kane to the spot.

The England captain's first effort was saved but he was given another chance as visiting 'keeper Marco Sportiello had both feet off his line.

Kane obliged, driving a low shot into the corner for his 15th successful penalty in all competitions this season.

Urbig was called into action just before half-time, acrobatically saving a Mario Pasalic attempt to keep Bayern in front at the break.

Starting for the first time since last month, Kane looked sharp and doubled Bayern's lead with 55 minutes gone, shrugging off the attention of four Atalanta defenders and blasting into the top corner on the turn.

Bayern coach Vincent Kompany said he "could not explain" Kane's brilliant strike, gushing: "I'm so happy when he scores the simple goals, but when he does that, it's unique.

"He's come back fresh and you can see how important he is for us."

With Atalanta suddenly shaky, Bayern marched up the field and struck again, Diaz threading a pass for Karl to fire across the face of goal and into the corner.

The teenage Bayern forward, tipped by German media for a maiden international call-up on Thursday, repaid Diaz with 20 minutes left, cutting a high pass over the Atalanta defence to the Colombian who chipped Sportiello to score.

Like they did in Bergamo, Atalanta got a late consolation when Samardzic headed home from close range with five minutes left.