Goalkeeper Jonas Urbig (l-r, Bayern Munich), goalkeeper Sven Ulreich (Bayern Munich), Aleksandar Pavlovic (Bayern Munich), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Nicolas Jackson (Bayern Munich) and Luis Diaz (Bayern Munich) thank the fans for their support. Alamy Stock Photo
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Harry Kane's remarkable season in Germany continues
The 32-year-old now has 28 goals from 22 appearances in all competitions.
HARRY KANE came off the bench to score a hat-trick as Bayern Munich thrashed Stuttgart 5-0 on a day of late drama in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Kane struck three times in the second half to crush spirited resistance from Stuttgart, while St. Pauli and Heidenheim both grabbed injury-time goals.
Playing their fifth game in two weeks, Bayern rested several big names in Stuttgart, with Manuel Neuer, Harry Kane and Jonathan Tah all starting on the bench.
Vincent Kompany’s side still started strongly. Nicolas Jackson had an early chance, before Konrad Laimer opened the scoring with a delicate backheel on 11 minutes.
Stuttgart fought back before half-time, and were unlucky not to be level at the break after Nikolas Nartey’s headed equaliser was ruled out for offside after a lengthy VAR check.
Bayern rallied after Kane came off the bench in the second half.
The England striker doubled the lead from the edge of the area, and Josip Stanisic whipped in a third 12 minutes from time.
Kane then added a fifth from the penalty spot after a goal-line handball from Lorenz Assignon, before completing his hat-trick with a late tap-in.
The 32-year-old now has 17 goals in the league this season and 28 from 22 appearances in all competitions.
Elsewhere, Christian Eriksen helped Wolfsburg to their first home win in almost a year with a 3-1 victory against Union Berlin.
Wolfsburg had not won at home in 14 games, but stunned Union with two brilliantly worked first-half goals from Patrick Wimmer and Mohamed Amoura.
Eriksen then orchestrated the third after half-time, pouncing on a mistake by Stanley Nsoki to race forward and set up Lovro Majer in the box.
The hosts then weathered a late revival from Union, who pulled a goal back through Nsoki before Leopold Querfeld missed a penalty late on.
Wolfsburg’s win was not the only surprise of the day, as Augsburg snatched a shock 2-0 victory over Leverkusen in their first game since sacking coach Sandro Wagner.
Dimitrios Giannoulis caught the Bayer defence napping early on before Anton Kade doubled the lead with a header later in the first half.
Elsewhere, St. Pauli avoided a 10th defeat in a row with a 1-1 draw at Cologne, while Heidenheim came from behind for the second week in a row as they beat Freiburg 2-1.
Cologne looked set for victory after Said El Mala gave them the lead with a blistering counter-attack just after the break, but English striker Ricky-Jade Jones snatched a late equaliser with St. Pauli’s first shot of the match.
A week after they scored twice in injury time against Union, Heidenheim left it late again against Freiburg.
Patrick Mainka cancelled out Johan Manzambi’s opener in the second half before Stefan Schimmer found the net in the 94th minute to hand the hosts a dramatic victory.
La Liga
Ferran Torres netted a first-half hat-trick to help Barcelona thrash Real Betis 5-3 and move four points clear at the top of La Liga on Saturday.
Lamine Yamal and Roony Bardghji scored the other goals as the champions racked up what was mostly a comfortable victory in Seville, until they conceded two late goals.
Real Madrid, second, host Celta Vigo on Sunday aiming to reel Hansi Flick’s side back in, while fourth-place Atletico Madrid fell to a second defeat this week with a 1-0 loss at Athletic Bilbao.
Alex Berenguer’s superb late strike from outside the area earned Athletic their late win over Atletico, who are now nine points behind Barcelona.
Atletico had been on a run of 13 matches unbeaten before Barca defeated them in midweek, with the Basques following it up at their buzzing San Mames stadium.
After some shaky performances Barca beat Atletico Madrid in midweek and then built on it with another triumph at Betis.
“We are fighting and (my players) were exhausted, so at the end not everyone was 100 percent, and this is normal,” Flick told reporters.
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“Today is positive. Really positive and compliments for my players.”
Flick opted to make some rotations, with a key Champions League clash against Eintracht Frankfurt on Tuesday in mind.
The German coach started Bardghji on the right wing and Torres up front in place of Robert Lewandowski, as well as moving teenage star Yamal into a central attacking midfield role, where he impressed.
Former Manchester United forward Antony opened the scoring for Betis, fifth, at their temporary La Cartuja home, blasting home after Jules Kounde played him onside.
The French defender made amends to help Barca get back level five minutes later, with Torres polishing off his cross at the end of a sharp team move.
Torres struck again in the 13th minute in similar fashion from Bardghji’s cross to put Barca in front, and they never looked back.
Bardghji scored the third himself after good work by Pedri to bring the ball forward, the Swedish winger finishing with aplomb.
Torres completed his hat-trick before half-time with a stroke of luck, as his shot deflected home past Alvaro Valles.
It was his 11th league goal, making him the second top scorer in La Liga behind Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe.
“I already knew I could do this,” Torres told Movistar.
“That’s what you have to do at Barca, and I’m aiming for many more (goals).”
Yamal netted Barca’s fifth from the penalty spot before the hour mark, after former Blaugrana defender Marc Bartra was harshly penalised for handball.
Marcus Rashford’s shot was blocked by Bartra but the ball flew up and struck his hand.
Yamal should have scored when clean through but shot too close to Valles, and Rashford also fired wide one-on-one.
Betis nabbed two late goals, with Diego Llorente turning home at the back post from a corner that Barca defended badly.
Kounde clumsily felled another former Barca player in Ez Abde and Cucho Hernandez rolled home from the spot.
Earlier Villarreal, third, kept the pressure on La Liga’s top two with a 2-0 win over 10-man Getafe on Saturday.
Tajon Buchanan sent the hosts ahead shortly before half-time, with Getafe’s Luis Milla dismissed soon after the break after an angry confrontation with the Canadian midfielder.
Buchanan kicked the ball at Milla, who appeared to be sent off for something he said back to the Villarreal player in response.
Georges Mikautadze netted the second after 64 minutes to bring Villarreal one point behind second place Real Madrid.
Marcelino Garcia Toral’s Villarreal have won six consecutive league games and are unbeaten since early October.
“A good win in a tricky game,” Villarreal defender Renato Veiga told Movistar. “We are going game by game and that’s what we have to do.”
Serie A
Inter moved top of Serie A on Saturday after hammering high-flying Como 4-0 at the San Siro, ahead of the visit of struggling Liverpool in the Champions League.
Carlos Augusto and Inter celebrate their fourth goal against Como. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Strike partnership Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram scored in each half before Hakan Calhanoglu and Carlos Augusto netted late as Inter eased to a victory which pushed them two points ahead of AC Milan and Napoli who are both yet to play.
Champions Napoli host fierce rivals Juventus on Sunday night while Milan will be favourites to leapfrog back over their local rivals at Torino on Monday.
“Today we showed how good we are against a really good side in Como,” said Martinez.
“We showed just how hungry we are to get as many points as we can… it’s a really good win for us.”
Saturday’s win was the perfect warm-up for Tuesday’s clash with Liverpool, which could be key to whether Cristian Chivu’s team secure direct qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League.
A good sign for Chivu was the strong display by Luis Henrique at right wing-back, which has been a trouble position for Inter since Denzel Dumfries’ picked up an ankle injury last month.
It was Henrique who was key to Martinez’s opener in the 11th minute, the Brazilian surging into the area from his own half, cutting back inside and perfectly feeding his captain who netted a league-leading seventh goal of the Serie A campaign.
And in the 59th minute Thuram added to his brace in Inter’s midweek cup thumping of Venezia with his first league goal since returning from a hamstring injury suffered in September.
France forward Thuram poked home from close range after Federico Dimarco’s corner caused chaos for Como, who had started the second half the better team and should have levelled from one of two great chances for Tasos Douvikas and Alex Valle.
Cesc Fabregas’ Como drop down a place to sixth, six points behind Inter after falling to their first defeat since August, which was made emphatic by Calhanoglu firing home his seventh goal of the season in the 81st minute and Carlos Augusto’s fine volley shortly afterwards.
“It’s hard to analyse when you’ve been beaten 4-0. It’s a heavy defeat… but honestly I didn’t see a huge difference between the two teams tonight,” insisted Fabregas.
“A result like today’s helps you develop… A heavy defeat is when you grow the most and when you learn the most.”
Fiorentina plunged deeper into crisis with a 3-1 defeat at promoted Sassuolo which left them bottom of the division without a single win this season.
Once the home of players like Gabriel Batistuta and Rui Costa and sixth-placed finishers last season, Fiorentina have collected just six points from 14 matches.
And even with the backing of some 4,000 travelling fans the “Viola” were dreadful in Reggio Emilia, collapsing to an eighth league loss of the league campaign after going ahead through Rolando Mandragora’s ninth-minute penalty.
Cristian Volpato levelled for Sassuolo with a deflected strike five minutes later. Tarik Muharemovic gave the hosts a deserved lead on the stroke of half-time when he was given the freedom of the Fiorentina penalty area to head home his first Serie A goal.
From that point Fiorentina showed nothing to suggest a comeback and Ismael Kone sealed the points for Sassuolo in the 65th minute, shortly after Volpato had a screamer ruled out for a soft looking foul on Fabiano Parisi.
That decision incensed eight-placed Sassuolo’s coach Fabio Grosso who was subsequently sent off for dissent.
Grosso’s counterpart Paolo Vanoli, who took charge of Fiorentina a month ago, screamed on the sidelines to no avail as his team stayed six points from safety with just over a third of the season done.
Raffaele Palladino looks to continue his good start as Atalanta coach, a job he took last month after quitting Fiorentina in the summer, at Verona in the day’s late fixture.
Senny Mayulu celebrates scoring a goal for PSG. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Ligue 1
Surprise package Lens will emerge from the weekend as French Ligue 1 leaders after a 2-1 win at Nantes on Saturday but Paris Saint-Germain thumped Rennes in the late game to loom just one point behind them.
French and European Champions PSG travel to Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League midweek and on Saturday fielded a weakened side that routed Rennes 5-0, having slipped up 1-0 at Monaco last weekend.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored twice with youngster Senny Mayulu, Ibrahim Mbaye and Gonçalo Ramos completing the romp in injury time.
The modest northern club Lens with a large regional support base climbed top for the first time in 21 years last weekend, and were to remain top regardless of Paris Saint-Germain’s result.
Lens sit top with 34 points, PSG have 33, and Marseille and Lille both have 29 after Lille edged OM 1-0 on Friday.
Former Marseille and Newcastle attacking-midfielder Florian Thauvin set Lens on their way to this fifth straight league win on 34 minutes and Wesley Saïd scored the winner on 81 after Nantes had levelled on 38 through Youssef El-Arabi.
The 32-year-old Thauvin won the World Cup with France in 2018 but has been largely in the international wilderness since, playing two years at Tigres in Mexico and signing for Lens this season after two solid seasons at Udinese.
He has five League goals this season and also scored on his first France appearance in six years after replacing Kylian Mbappe against Azerbaijan.
After four consecutive defeats Nice play Angers at home on Sunday, looking to end a dire run on the pitch and tensions between the team and supporters off it.
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Harry Kane's remarkable season in Germany continues
LAST UPDATE | 6 Dec 2025
Bundesliga
HARRY KANE came off the bench to score a hat-trick as Bayern Munich thrashed Stuttgart 5-0 on a day of late drama in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Kane struck three times in the second half to crush spirited resistance from Stuttgart, while St. Pauli and Heidenheim both grabbed injury-time goals.
Playing their fifth game in two weeks, Bayern rested several big names in Stuttgart, with Manuel Neuer, Harry Kane and Jonathan Tah all starting on the bench.
Vincent Kompany’s side still started strongly. Nicolas Jackson had an early chance, before Konrad Laimer opened the scoring with a delicate backheel on 11 minutes.
Stuttgart fought back before half-time, and were unlucky not to be level at the break after Nikolas Nartey’s headed equaliser was ruled out for offside after a lengthy VAR check.
Bayern rallied after Kane came off the bench in the second half.
The England striker doubled the lead from the edge of the area, and Josip Stanisic whipped in a third 12 minutes from time.
Kane then added a fifth from the penalty spot after a goal-line handball from Lorenz Assignon, before completing his hat-trick with a late tap-in.
The 32-year-old now has 17 goals in the league this season and 28 from 22 appearances in all competitions.
Elsewhere, Christian Eriksen helped Wolfsburg to their first home win in almost a year with a 3-1 victory against Union Berlin.
Wolfsburg had not won at home in 14 games, but stunned Union with two brilliantly worked first-half goals from Patrick Wimmer and Mohamed Amoura.
Eriksen then orchestrated the third after half-time, pouncing on a mistake by Stanley Nsoki to race forward and set up Lovro Majer in the box.
The hosts then weathered a late revival from Union, who pulled a goal back through Nsoki before Leopold Querfeld missed a penalty late on.
Wolfsburg’s win was not the only surprise of the day, as Augsburg snatched a shock 2-0 victory over Leverkusen in their first game since sacking coach Sandro Wagner.
Dimitrios Giannoulis caught the Bayer defence napping early on before Anton Kade doubled the lead with a header later in the first half.
Elsewhere, St. Pauli avoided a 10th defeat in a row with a 1-1 draw at Cologne, while Heidenheim came from behind for the second week in a row as they beat Freiburg 2-1.
Cologne looked set for victory after Said El Mala gave them the lead with a blistering counter-attack just after the break, but English striker Ricky-Jade Jones snatched a late equaliser with St. Pauli’s first shot of the match.
A week after they scored twice in injury time against Union, Heidenheim left it late again against Freiburg.
Patrick Mainka cancelled out Johan Manzambi’s opener in the second half before Stefan Schimmer found the net in the 94th minute to hand the hosts a dramatic victory.
La Liga
Ferran Torres netted a first-half hat-trick to help Barcelona thrash Real Betis 5-3 and move four points clear at the top of La Liga on Saturday.
Lamine Yamal and Roony Bardghji scored the other goals as the champions racked up what was mostly a comfortable victory in Seville, until they conceded two late goals.
Real Madrid, second, host Celta Vigo on Sunday aiming to reel Hansi Flick’s side back in, while fourth-place Atletico Madrid fell to a second defeat this week with a 1-0 loss at Athletic Bilbao.
Alex Berenguer’s superb late strike from outside the area earned Athletic their late win over Atletico, who are now nine points behind Barcelona.
Atletico had been on a run of 13 matches unbeaten before Barca defeated them in midweek, with the Basques following it up at their buzzing San Mames stadium.
After some shaky performances Barca beat Atletico Madrid in midweek and then built on it with another triumph at Betis.
“We are fighting and (my players) were exhausted, so at the end not everyone was 100 percent, and this is normal,” Flick told reporters.
“Today is positive. Really positive and compliments for my players.”
Flick opted to make some rotations, with a key Champions League clash against Eintracht Frankfurt on Tuesday in mind.
The German coach started Bardghji on the right wing and Torres up front in place of Robert Lewandowski, as well as moving teenage star Yamal into a central attacking midfield role, where he impressed.
Former Manchester United forward Antony opened the scoring for Betis, fifth, at their temporary La Cartuja home, blasting home after Jules Kounde played him onside.
The French defender made amends to help Barca get back level five minutes later, with Torres polishing off his cross at the end of a sharp team move.
Torres struck again in the 13th minute in similar fashion from Bardghji’s cross to put Barca in front, and they never looked back.
Bardghji scored the third himself after good work by Pedri to bring the ball forward, the Swedish winger finishing with aplomb.
Torres completed his hat-trick before half-time with a stroke of luck, as his shot deflected home past Alvaro Valles.
It was his 11th league goal, making him the second top scorer in La Liga behind Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe.
“I already knew I could do this,” Torres told Movistar.
“That’s what you have to do at Barca, and I’m aiming for many more (goals).”
Yamal netted Barca’s fifth from the penalty spot before the hour mark, after former Blaugrana defender Marc Bartra was harshly penalised for handball.
Marcus Rashford’s shot was blocked by Bartra but the ball flew up and struck his hand.
Yamal should have scored when clean through but shot too close to Valles, and Rashford also fired wide one-on-one.
Betis nabbed two late goals, with Diego Llorente turning home at the back post from a corner that Barca defended badly.
Kounde clumsily felled another former Barca player in Ez Abde and Cucho Hernandez rolled home from the spot.
Earlier Villarreal, third, kept the pressure on La Liga’s top two with a 2-0 win over 10-man Getafe on Saturday.
Tajon Buchanan sent the hosts ahead shortly before half-time, with Getafe’s Luis Milla dismissed soon after the break after an angry confrontation with the Canadian midfielder.
Buchanan kicked the ball at Milla, who appeared to be sent off for something he said back to the Villarreal player in response.
Georges Mikautadze netted the second after 64 minutes to bring Villarreal one point behind second place Real Madrid.
Marcelino Garcia Toral’s Villarreal have won six consecutive league games and are unbeaten since early October.
“A good win in a tricky game,” Villarreal defender Renato Veiga told Movistar. “We are going game by game and that’s what we have to do.”
Serie A
Inter moved top of Serie A on Saturday after hammering high-flying Como 4-0 at the San Siro, ahead of the visit of struggling Liverpool in the Champions League.
Strike partnership Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram scored in each half before Hakan Calhanoglu and Carlos Augusto netted late as Inter eased to a victory which pushed them two points ahead of AC Milan and Napoli who are both yet to play.
Champions Napoli host fierce rivals Juventus on Sunday night while Milan will be favourites to leapfrog back over their local rivals at Torino on Monday.
“Today we showed how good we are against a really good side in Como,” said Martinez.
“We showed just how hungry we are to get as many points as we can… it’s a really good win for us.”
Saturday’s win was the perfect warm-up for Tuesday’s clash with Liverpool, which could be key to whether Cristian Chivu’s team secure direct qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League.
A good sign for Chivu was the strong display by Luis Henrique at right wing-back, which has been a trouble position for Inter since Denzel Dumfries’ picked up an ankle injury last month.
It was Henrique who was key to Martinez’s opener in the 11th minute, the Brazilian surging into the area from his own half, cutting back inside and perfectly feeding his captain who netted a league-leading seventh goal of the Serie A campaign.
And in the 59th minute Thuram added to his brace in Inter’s midweek cup thumping of Venezia with his first league goal since returning from a hamstring injury suffered in September.
France forward Thuram poked home from close range after Federico Dimarco’s corner caused chaos for Como, who had started the second half the better team and should have levelled from one of two great chances for Tasos Douvikas and Alex Valle.
Cesc Fabregas’ Como drop down a place to sixth, six points behind Inter after falling to their first defeat since August, which was made emphatic by Calhanoglu firing home his seventh goal of the season in the 81st minute and Carlos Augusto’s fine volley shortly afterwards.
“It’s hard to analyse when you’ve been beaten 4-0. It’s a heavy defeat… but honestly I didn’t see a huge difference between the two teams tonight,” insisted Fabregas.
“A result like today’s helps you develop… A heavy defeat is when you grow the most and when you learn the most.”
Fiorentina plunged deeper into crisis with a 3-1 defeat at promoted Sassuolo which left them bottom of the division without a single win this season.
Once the home of players like Gabriel Batistuta and Rui Costa and sixth-placed finishers last season, Fiorentina have collected just six points from 14 matches.
And even with the backing of some 4,000 travelling fans the “Viola” were dreadful in Reggio Emilia, collapsing to an eighth league loss of the league campaign after going ahead through Rolando Mandragora’s ninth-minute penalty.
Cristian Volpato levelled for Sassuolo with a deflected strike five minutes later. Tarik Muharemovic gave the hosts a deserved lead on the stroke of half-time when he was given the freedom of the Fiorentina penalty area to head home his first Serie A goal.
From that point Fiorentina showed nothing to suggest a comeback and Ismael Kone sealed the points for Sassuolo in the 65th minute, shortly after Volpato had a screamer ruled out for a soft looking foul on Fabiano Parisi.
That decision incensed eight-placed Sassuolo’s coach Fabio Grosso who was subsequently sent off for dissent.
Grosso’s counterpart Paolo Vanoli, who took charge of Fiorentina a month ago, screamed on the sidelines to no avail as his team stayed six points from safety with just over a third of the season done.
Raffaele Palladino looks to continue his good start as Atalanta coach, a job he took last month after quitting Fiorentina in the summer, at Verona in the day’s late fixture.
Ligue 1
Surprise package Lens will emerge from the weekend as French Ligue 1 leaders after a 2-1 win at Nantes on Saturday but Paris Saint-Germain thumped Rennes in the late game to loom just one point behind them.
French and European Champions PSG travel to Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League midweek and on Saturday fielded a weakened side that routed Rennes 5-0, having slipped up 1-0 at Monaco last weekend.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored twice with youngster Senny Mayulu, Ibrahim Mbaye and Gonçalo Ramos completing the romp in injury time.
The modest northern club Lens with a large regional support base climbed top for the first time in 21 years last weekend, and were to remain top regardless of Paris Saint-Germain’s result.
Lens sit top with 34 points, PSG have 33, and Marseille and Lille both have 29 after Lille edged OM 1-0 on Friday.
Former Marseille and Newcastle attacking-midfielder Florian Thauvin set Lens on their way to this fifth straight league win on 34 minutes and Wesley Saïd scored the winner on 81 after Nantes had levelled on 38 through Youssef El-Arabi.
The 32-year-old Thauvin won the World Cup with France in 2018 but has been largely in the international wilderness since, playing two years at Tigres in Mexico and signing for Lens this season after two solid seasons at Udinese.
He has five League goals this season and also scored on his first France appearance in six years after replacing Kylian Mbappe against Azerbaijan.
After four consecutive defeats Nice play Angers at home on Sunday, looking to end a dire run on the pitch and tensions between the team and supporters off it.
– © AFP 2025
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