Harry Kane scored twice as Bayern Munich claimed a dramatic 4-2 win against brave Bundesliga newcomers Heidenheim to oust Bayer Leverkusen at the top of the table.
Match Report
Thomas Tuchel's side raced into a two-goal lead thanks to their talismanic striker, who has now scored an incredible 17 goals in 11 league games, with Kane swivelling and lashing the ball beyond Kevin Muller in the 14th minute.
One soon became two when 'King Kane', as he is affectionately known in Munich, was left unmarked in the box and applied a smart header to Leroy Sane's deft delivery.
Bayern were in cruise control at the break, spearheaded by the England captain, but suffered a brief collapse midway through the second period to gift Heidenheim two quickfire goals.
Tim Kleindienst gave the visitors a lifeline in the 67th minute, turning home Eren Dinkci's cross, before Jan-Niklas Beste's speculative effort wrong-footed Manuel Neuer to draw the visitors level three minutes later.
There was uproar in the stands, and on the touchline, given Tuchel had made a triple substitution moments before Heidenheim's late assault, but it never really felt like Bayern were willing to surrender precious points in such disparate circumstances.
The 33-time German champions came on strong in the closing stages and re-established their lead through Raphael Guerreiro before substitutes Mathys Tel and Eric Choupo-Moting combined to guarantee victory with five minutes remaining.
Match Events
9' Upamecano's header wide out
14' GOAL! Bayern 1-0 1.FC Heidenheim 1846 (Kane)
32' Sane's shot wide out
44' GOAL! Bayern 2-0 1.FC Heidenheim 1846 (Kane)
58' Kane's shot stopped
67' GOAL! Bayern 2-1 1.FC Heidenheim 1846 (Kleindienst)
70' GOAL! Bayern 2-2 1.FC Heidenheim 1846 (J. Beste)
72' GOAL! Bayern 3-2 1.FC Heidenheim 1846 (Guerreiro)
85' GOAL! Bayern 4-2 1.FC Heidenheim 1846 (Choupo-Moting)
Line-ups
Bayern XI: Neuer, Muller, Kane, Sarr, Gnabry, Sane, Laimer, Mazraoui, Upamecano, Min-jae Kim, Aleksandar Pavlovic
Subs: Choupo-Moting, Ulreich, Guerreiro, Coman, Alphonso Davies, Mathys Tel, Frans Krätzig
1.FC Heidenheim 1846 XI: Norman Theuerkauf, Kevin Müller, Patrick Mainka, Kleindienst, Jonas Föhrenbach, Benedikt Gimber, J. Beste, Lennard Maloney, Omar Haktab Traoré, Jan Schöppner, Eren Dinkçi
Subs: Vitus Eicher, Denis Thomalla, Nikola Dovedan, Marnon Busch, Florian Pick, Adrian Beck, Stefan Schimmer, Tim Siersleben, Kevin Sessa