Bayern Munich went into Saturday's match away at Union Berlin having won all 16 games to begin 2025-26. With their capital hosts firmly mid-table in the Bundesliga, Vincent Kompany's side were widely expected to run out victors again.
Yet Union threw a spanner in the works. After an opening goal from Ilyas Ansah was ruled out by VAR for offside, Manuel Neuer spilled a trickling shot from Danilho Doekhi over the line to ensure Bayern indeed fell behind in the first half. Only an incredible solo effort from Luis Diaz meant the visitors were able to go into the break on level terms.
Bayern pushed on to find a second goal, but found themselves scrambling for merely one point when Doekhi scored again on 83 minutes, with Kane's limp header from a free-kick turned in by the centre-back. The enigmatic Stadion An der Alten Forsterei thought it was going to see a famous Union win, until Kane went from zero to Bavarian hero. In the third minute of added time, Tom Bischof sent in a delicious cross, and the England captain pounced ahead of his marker to nod it in at the near post.
"It was a tough game. We expected a battle and a lot of long balls. Many decisions and small fouls went against us today," Kane bemoaned post-match. "It wasn't our best game, but we stayed focused and managed to equalise. That's football, there are games like today where things go against you. We'll take the point.
"Obviously it was my mistake for the second goal. So I was itching to get the chance at the end there and put it away, and thankfully Tom put a great ball in and I snuck it past the 'keeper. I've been playing football long enough to know, this is part of it, mistakes are going to happen. It's just nice to be able to help teams out."
Kane did, however, reserve special praise for fellow scorer Diaz, who has been a revelation at Bayern since joining from Liverpool over the summer. "Incredible to be honest," he said of the strike. "The way he kept the ball in and got past his defender and then score was, just a special goal, a really, really special goal. He's been pulling stuff out like that all season but I reckon that's probably his best."