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MUNICH: Harry Kane scored again as Bayern Munich dealt Borussia Dortmund their first Bundesliga loss of the season by winning Der Klassiker 2-1 on Saturday.
Bayern, the defending champion, dominated and delivered a statement to their closest rival after six rounds.
Kane launched the first good chance, while defending. He eluded two Dortmund forward, and sent the ball forward. Michael Olize drew a save from Gregor Kobel, who then secured Luis Díaz’s effort from the rebound.
Kane scored in the 22nd minute with a header to Joshua Kimmich’s corner. It was his 22nd goal for club and country this season and stretched his scoring streak in the Bundesliga to five games that have yielded nine goals.
Olize grazed the left post with another shot. The only complaint Bayern could have at the break was that they were leading only 1-0.
Dortmund improved significantly after the interval when Felix Nmecha went close, Serhou Guirassy fired over, and Karim Adeyemi failed to capitalize on a rare Kimmich mistake.
It mattered little, as Olize sealed the win by sliding in to cut out substitute Jobe Bellingham’s attempted goal-line clearance in the 79th. That move started with a brilliant cross-field ball from Kane for Díaz.
Substitute Julian Brandt scored seconds after his introduction, but Kane defended as Bayern held on for their 11th consecutive win across all competitions.
Poulsen honored
Leipzig held on beat promoted Hamburger SV 2-1 after the home fans honored Hamburg’s Danish forward Yussuf Poulsen with a huge tifo in tribute to his 12 years at the club in his first game back. Leipzig were still in the third division when Poulsen joined from Lyngby in 2013.
Heidenheim drew with Werder Bremen 2-2, Augsburg drew in Cologne 1-1, and Christian Eriksen made his first start for Wolfsburg in a 3-0 loss at home to Stuttgart. It was Wolfsburg’s fourth straight Bundesliga defeat and a sixth league game in a row without a win.

RIYADH: Visitors Al-Hilal defeated Al-Ettifaq in Dammam on Saturday afternoon to climb to second in the Saudi Pro League table as domestic football returns to the Kingdom following a week that saw the national team qualify to the 2026 World Cup.

The 5-0 win reestablished Al-Hilal’s title pretensions and left them on 11 points from five matches. Al-Ettifaq remain in 10th with seven points from the same number of fixtures.

Marco Leonardo opened the scoring after only 15 minutes, finishing past Marek Rodak after some poor defending from the Ettifaq defenders following Al-Hilal rightback Hamad Al-Yami’s cross from the byline.

The lead was doubled on 39 minutes when Sergej Milinkovic-Savic disposed Duda in the middle of the park and found Malcolm and the right wing. The Brazilian in turn squared a simple pass to Darwin Nunez to score from close range. On the sideline Simone Inzaghi applauded another fine team goal.

While the home team attempted to reduce the deficit before the break with a concerted period of pressure, it was Al-Hilal who continued to look the more dangerous on the break. The first half would see no further goals.

If Al-Hilal had been the more threatening team in the first half, they were brutally dominant in the early stages of the second.

Ruben Neves made it 3-0 from the penalty spot in the 48th minute to end the match as a contest before the home team had any chance of making a belated impression on it.

Only seven minutes later, a free kick from Neves was nodded by the tireless Nunez toward Leonardo, who made it four with a close range-header.

The ordeal for Al-Ettifaq was not over. On 74 minutes, Milinkovic-Savic’s inch-perfect cross from the right was met at the near post by Nunez for his second and Al-Hilal’s fifth of the night.

Al-Hilal next welcome Qatar’s Al-Sadd to Riyadh in the AFC Champions League Elite, before traveling to Jeddah for a Saudi Pro League clash with reigning champions Al-Ittihad.