Kimmich and Karl Keep Bayern Unbeaten as Kane Sets Up Both in 2-1 Win at Mainz

There are wins that look comfortable on a scoresheet and wins that have to be earned the hard way, and Bayern Munich's trip to Mainz on Saturday fell firmly into the second category. For long stretches of the afternoon at the MEWA Arena, the champions were second best in the chances they gave up and fortunate in the chances Mainz could not take. But champions find a way, and Bayern found theirs through the two men who have defined their season so far: Harry Kane, who made both goals, and Joshua Kimmich, who scored the first of them.

Kimmich needed only fourteen minutes. Kane dropped deep, as he so often does, took the ball on the half-turn and slid a pass through for his captain, who finished with the calm of a man who has done it a hundred times before. It was a goal that said everything about how Bayern want to play: the striker as creator, the midfielder arriving late, the move finished before the defence had time to set itself. Mainz, to their credit, did not fold. They pressed, they ran, they made the game ragged, and they went into the break only a goal down with the sense that something was still there for them.

Whatever was said in the Bayern dressing room at half-time worked quickly. Twelve minutes into the second half, Kane was at it again, this time picking out Lennart Karl, and the youngster made no mistake to double the lead. Two assists for the England captain, two goals from open play, and suddenly a difficult afternoon looked manageable. Karl's finish mattered for more than the scoreline, too. In a side full of established stars, the teenager keeps answering every question asked of him, and this was another composed finish in a game where composure was in short supply.

Mainz refused to accept the result. They threw bodies forward, won a string of set pieces, and in the second minute of stoppage time finally got their reward when substitute Phillip Tietz headed home Benedict Hollerbach's delivery. The last two minutes were frantic, the home crowd on its feet, but Bayern held on, and the final whistle brought relief as much as celebration.

The numbers tell the story of a strange game. Bayern had 69 percent of the ball and 26 shots to Mainz's 11, with nine on target to the hosts' one. Yet Mainz's goalkeeper Robin Zentner was the busier of the two, making six saves, and the home side created the better openings on paper without ever turning them into goals. That is the difference between the two teams right now: one finishes its chances, the other does not, and the table reflects it.

The win takes Bayern to 21 points from nine matches, six wins and three draws, still unbeaten and level with Borussia Dortmund at the summit. Mainz stay eleventh on ten points, and while there is plenty to admire in the way they took the game to the champions, they will know this was a chance that slipped away. Bayern, meanwhile, have a fortnight to rest and reset before Köln visit the Allianz Arena on November 20. They will not play this poorly and win many more games this season. The fact they won this one anyway is exactly why they sit where they sit.