The Useful Context
Harry Kane's remarkable streak is over. The Bayern Munich striker stepped up to the penalty spot at 0-0 against Wolfsberg on Saturday with a chance to extend his perfect Bundesliga penalty record, and he missed — his shot drifting wide of the right post after he appeared to slip slightly approaching the ball.
It was the first time in 24 Bundesliga penalties that Kane failed to convert since joining Bayern in 2023. Ten of those came this season alone. Across all competitions, he has now missed three penalties for Bayern: one saved by Wehen Wiesbaden's Florian Stritzel in the German Cup, one saved in the Champions League against Union Saint-Gilloise, and now this one.
The list looks clean on paper; the hard part is everything that happens after it is printed.
Bayern still won 1-0. Michael Olise delivered the decisive moment in the 34th minute, curling a shot off the underside of the crossbar and into the net. Wolfsburg came close to an equalizer in the 89th minute when Mattias Svanberg hit the bar with only the goalkeeper to beat.
The result leaves Wolfsburg 16th and deep in relegation trouble. The club hasn't played outside Germany's top division since 1997. Wolfsburg visits 17th-placed St. Pauli next Saturday in the final round of regular season games. A loss means relegation; a draw would be enough to survive. St. Pauli must win.
Leipzig secured a return to the Champions League with a 2-1 win over relegation-threatened St. Pauli. Xaver Schlager bundled in a loose ball from a corner just before halftime, and Willi Orban headed in shortly after the break. St. Pauli pulled one back through Abdoulie Ceesay's long-range header in the 86th minute, but it wasn't enough. Leipzig finishes third — a vast improvement from seventh last season, which was the club's worst top-flight finish.
The Detail Still Doing Work
St. Pauli's ninth consecutive winless game keeps them 17th in the 18-team league. They were already in trouble before kickoff: American midfielder Kevin Paredes and Algerian striker Mohamed Amoura were left out for disciplinary reasons, the club said without elaborating.
Stuttgart strengthened its hold on fourth place with a 3-1 comeback win over Bayer Leverkusen. Leverkusen opened the scoring through Aleix Garcia after 34 seconds, but Ermedin Demirovic leveled in the fifth minute and won a penalty that Maximilian Mittelstädt converted to give Stuttgart the lead just before halftime. Deniz Undav, the league's second-highest scorer, added a third. Leverkusen remains sixth with only a slim chance of Champions League qualification.
Hoffenheim moved level on points with Stuttgart in fifth after a 1-0 win over Werder Bremen. The match turned in the fifth minute when Bremen's Yukinari Sugawara received a red card for a reckless studs-up challenge. Bazoumana Toure scored the only goal from a quickly taken corner.
Augsburg boosted its Conference League hopes with a 3-1 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach. American midfielder scored in the second minute of second-half stoppage time — his first club goal since January 14, 2025.