Harry Kane took more shots than anyone in the Bundesliga this season and had only four league goals to show for it. On Saturday in Mainz, he did not add a fifth. He created both of Bayern Munich's goals instead, laying on Joshua Kimmich's opener and Lennart Karl's second in a 2-1 win that kept the defending champions top of the table heading into the international break.
The inversion is the point. No player in the league has attempted more than Kane's 43 shots, yet 10 players have scored more than his four goals, according to official Bundesliga figures. He is, at the same time, joint-top of the assist chart with seven in nine league games. The Ballon d'Or he won last month was built on finishing. After extending through 2029 earlier this week, he built this night on the pass he chose not to take.
He could have shot — twice
Bayern's first shot on target ended in the top corner, and Kane did not take it. He won the ball after a misplaced Jae-sung Lee pass and found Kimmich, who drove forward and rifled in from the edge of the box in the 14th minute. Official Bundesliga coverage noted Kane was in position to let fly himself and laid the ball off instead.
The second assist asked for the same decision after two Bundesliga games without a goal. Kane's own shot was blocked just before the hour, the loose ball came back to him, and he poked it into the path of 18-year-old Lennart Karl, who slotted in for his second goal in two competitive games. Phillip Tietz headed in Benedict Hollerbach's cross in the third minute of stoppage time, but Mainz never drew level.
The numbers behind a different kind of decisive night
Kane has 10 goals in 15 appearances in all competitions, a return the Bundesliga itself called slightly below his own standard after 61 goals in 51 Bayern games last season. He also has nine assists across all competitions, and only four players have created more chances this league season than the 33-year-old.
That is the version of Kane that Kimmich described afterward. The midfielder, voted man of the match by 49 percent of the public vote, handed Kane the captain's armband when he was substituted and then praised the forward's involvement beyond the scoresheet.
"He set up both goals today, and he also set one up against Atletico Madrid," Kimmich said. "He's always heavily involved, and even when he doesn't set any goals up, he's still very important for our game because - his goals aside - he has qualities we really need."
Bayern's control matched the result more than the late scoreline did. Official match data had them at 3.25 expected goals to Mainz's 0.82. Dayot Upamecano headed against the crossbar, Robin Zentner denied Nathaniel Brown and Upamecano before the half-hour, and a Lee header that would have made it 1-1 was ruled out for offside. That same passage ended Manuel Neuer's milestone afternoon: the goalkeeper became Bayern's oldest player of all time, at 40 years and 225 days, on his 550th Bundesliga appearance, then went off with a foot injury and was replaced by Jonas Urbig.
The win stretched Bayern's unbeaten away run in the league to 31 games. Borussia Dortmund also have 21 points from nine matches after beating Elversberg 2-1, leaving Bayern top on goal difference.
The extension, explained after the assist
Kane signed through 2029 earlier this week. After the Mainz match, he explained why he wanted the deal in the first place.
"I think it's just the best place for me to continue to improve," Kane said. "We've been really close in the Champions League. We obviously won both German competitions last year, which was amazing for me personally. We have a fantastic team and a great coaching staff. I feel I can keep improving. Right now I'm really happy to extend the contract."
He remains England's captain and is in Thomas Tuchel's 25-man squad for next week's Nations League games against Croatia at Wembley and Spain in Madrid.
The goals will come back; Kane has three Bundesliga top-scorer awards that say as much. Saturday's value was that Bayern did not have to wait for them. They go into the break still first because their Ballon d'Or winner, sitting on four league goals from a league-high 43 shots, decided the game with the passes he could have turned into shots for himself.
