Harry Kane Guides Bayern Munich to Victory Over Bayer Leverkusen, Secures Spot in Champions League Quarterfinals

With Leverkusen continuing to press forward, the visitors extended their lead in the 71st minute when Alphonso Davies skillfully finished a well-placed chip from Kane, driving the ball low and hard into the net to make it 2-0 for Bayern.

Kane, so often criticised for going missing in big games and scoring against the minnows, was again commanding, as he had been when scoring a brace in Munich.

The England captain showed finesse and physicality as he kept Bayern on track for a dream home final and a chance to exorcise the ghosts of their 2012 Champions League final loss to Chelsea.

"We didn't want to be a team who dropped off and defended the lead. We wanted to be on the front foot, put pressure on, and create chances to win the game," Kane told Amazon Prime.

"It's never easy when you have a 3-0 lead. Psychologically, you know. But I think the way we went about it today was a top performance. To beat this team 5-0 over two legs shows the type of team we are."

Leverkusen showed spirit despite missing pivotal midfielder Florian Wirtz, but the scale of the task was too high. 

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Eight points behind Bayern in the league, Xabi Alonso's likely last remaining chance for silverware this season is the German Cup, where Leverkusen are through to the final four.

Alonso praised his team for "fighting until the last minute with pride and dignity," and said "but we didn't lose the tie today -- we made it too difficult for ourselves in the return leg."

Bayern with the advantage

A month after dominating the same opponents at the same venue but somehow failing to break through, Leverkusen hosted Bayern in drastically different circumstances. 

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Put to the sword in Munich in perhaps the poorest performance of Alonso's 30-month reign six days earlier, Leverkusen needed to turn the tables on Bayern while lacking the injured Wirtz, their best player.

After criticism for his team selections in Munich, omitting in-form striker Patrik Schick and putting usual back-up goalkeeper Matej Kovar in goal, Alonso named the Czech up front and put captain Lukas Hradecky back between the sticks.

Bayern's Vincent Kompany made only one change, with rookie 'keeper Jonas Urbig replacing injured veteran Manuel Neuer.

Kane signalled Bayern's intent early, forcing Hradecky into acrobatic saves twice in the opening 15 minutes. 

Leverkusen lacked Wirtz and a little fluidity but remained ambitious, with an animated Alonso repeatedly urging them forward from the sideline. 

Schick, given a total of just 11 minutes in Leverkusen's two previous matches, headed inches wide with 38 minutes gone, the hosts' best chance of the opening half. 

The second half brought more necessary risk for Leverkusen and Bayern sensed the blood in the water.

With 52 minutes gone, Kane got on the end of Kimmich's lofted pass to kill off any remaining Leverkusen hope. 

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Kane then set up Davies to score inside the final 20 minutes, putting Bayern into the last eight and keeping his own personal quest for a team trophy alive on the biggest club football stage of all.

(This story has not been edited by staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)