European roundup: Harry Kane doubles up as Bayern Munich keep up chase

Harry Kane struck once in each half to steer Bayern Munich to a 3-0 victory over VfB Stuttgart on Sunday and cut the gap to leaders Bayer Leverkusen to four points with a game in hand.

The England captain has scored 20 times in his 14 league games so far. He is only the third player in the league’s history to reach that mark by or before the halfway stage.

Despite a string of injuries and the last-minute absences due to illness of Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka, Bayern bagged the three points and are now on 35 with a game in hand.

Bayern were desperate to bounce back from last week’s shock 5-1 loss to Frankfurt and they needed just two minutes to score, with Kane tapping in from a Leroy Sané pass.

The Bavarians had the upper hand throughout and missed a bagful of chances with Stuttgart keeper Alexander Nuebel kept busy throughout.

Kane doubled their lead in the 55th after being left unmarked to head in following a cross from youngster Aleksandar Pavlovic.

Eight minutes later the visitors struck again with Kim Min-jae’s deflected header wrongfooting Nuebel and killing off any hopes of a Stuttgart comeback in Bayern’s last home game of the year.

“It was probably our best performance of the season so far,” Kane said. “We wanted to be dominant. We knew how dangerous they were and we limited them to just a few chances. It was great to score twice and help the team.”

Earlier, Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface scored once and helped to set up two more goals for a 3-0 victory over visitors Eintracht Frankfurt.

Unbeaten in the Bundesliga this season, Xabi Alonso’s team took a 14th-minute lead with 22-year-old Nigeria international Boniface powering into the box and threading a low shot past two defenders and keeper Kevin Trapp for his ninth goal of the campaign.

Alejandro Grimaldo’s 35th-minute free kick slid off the crossbar before Jeremie Frimpong doubled their lead in the 51st on the rebound after Trapp had saved a Boniface shot.

The striker then sent Florian Wirtz through with a clever pass for their third goal six minutes later with the Germany international chipping the ball over the keeper.

The Bundesliga stops for a winter break after next week’s matches on Tuesday and Wednesday and will resume on Jan. 12.

This story will be updated