bundesliga

Harry Kane's Bayern Munich hat-trick one of several high points on brilliant Bundesliga weekend

25.09.2023

Harry Kane's record-breaking goal-fest at Bayern, Serhou Guirassy soaring at Stuttgart and Hoffenheim's stealth attack on the standings are among bundesliga.com's 5 takeaway moments from Matchday 5.

All rise for goal-king Kane

Bayern's brilliant signing Harry Kane added a touch of goalscoring class to the Oktoberfest celebrations with a first Bundesliga hat-trick as the record champions bedevilled Bochum in a 7-0 rout. Never before had a Bayern player scored seven goals in their first five top-flight matches for the Bavarian giants after arriving at the club but that feat is now complete as England's all-time record scorer continues to adapt to his new surroundings in superb style.

"It's been a really good start so far," Kane beamed after Bayern retook the outright lead in the standings. "I'm loving every minute here with the team, with the club and with the fans," the forward added. "Scoring a hat-trick here at home is obviously a special feeling."

Not content with his treble against Thomas Letsch's beleaguered Bochum, Kane added a couple of assists, to take his overall goal involvements this term to an incredible ten in five Bundesliga games.

Watch: Kane and Bayern run riot on Matchday 5

With Bayern scoring for the 60th home game in a row in the German top flight and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Matthijs de Ligt, Leroy Sané and Mathys Tel also on target in the team's latest triumph, there was so much for the home supporters to celebrate on what could easily be looked back upon as their Harry Kane Day.

Scintillating Serhou Guirassy

An awe-inspiring opening to the season for VfB and their on-fire forward Guirassy continued into another matchweek as the Swabians opened Bundesliga proceedings on Friday with a come-from-behind win at home to Darmstadt. Dan-Axel Zagadou's first-ever German top-flight career own goal soured the atmosphere somewhat at the MHPArena but the hosts came roaring back to ensure a fourth win of the campaign.

Guirassy turned provider for the first time in 48 Bundesliga appearances when he found Enzo Millot for Die Roten's equaliser. The Guinea international then got back to displaying his goal-getting greatness with a super strike that gave Sebastian Hoeneß's side the lead. A sublime, lifted finish at the death ensured Guirassy became the first-ever Stuttgart player to score three consecutive braces.

Watch: Guirassy on song again for Stuttgart

The 27-year-old Guirassy equalled Robert Lewandowski's record of scoring 10 times in the first five matches of a Bundesliga season (the prolific Pole achieving the feat in 2020/21) and he has now scored in each of Stuttgart's first six games in all competitions. With Die Roten netting a club record 18 Bundesliga goals at this stage of a season, there appears to be no end to the party in Baden-Württemberg right now.

Marco Reus: BVB's Mr. Reliable

As he edges towards 370 Bundesliga appearances, Reus continues to deliver on the big stage and his latest goal for Borussia Dortmund in their 1-0, weekend victory against Wolfsburg was worth a big three points to a side that has yet to hit lift off this term. Reus's tidy match winner against the Wolves was his 116th Bundesliga goal in Black-and-Yellow and moved the 34 year-old to third on his club's all-time German top-flight goalscorers.

Only Manfred Burgsmüller (135) and Michael Zorc (131) have now scored more Bundesliga goals for Dortmund than Reus, who was relieved Die Schwarzgelben could celebrate a morale-boosting victory.

Watch: BVB's Mr. Reliable Marco Reus adds one more to his collection

"The last few weeks have been slightly turbulent for us; a great deal has been written," Reus explained in quotes appearing on Dortmund's official website. "We produced a mature performance today, were solid and gave away little. We might not have had goalscoring chances galore, but we were patient and imposed our game. I had the feeling that the 1-0 was in the air – it was a super cross [from Julian Brandt], I only had to tap it in."

On a day when striker Niclas Füllkrug made his first BVB start, the Signal Iduna Park celebrated witnessing a home-team goal in a Bundesliga game for the 54th consecutive time, with Reus responsible for making it 1-0 for the 62nd time in his Bundesliga career.

Hungry Hoffenheim on the up

What a turnaround at Hoffenheim! A fourth straight Bundesliga win means the Sinsheimers are celebrating again following a 2022/23 campaign in which the biggest cheer came when top-flight survival was finally achieved. TSG are transformed under coach Pellegrino Matarazzo, who took up the reins last February, and find themselves among the division's top five teams following their latest victory, an impressive 2-0 win at Champions League contenders Union Berlin.

Watch: Hoffenheim take the bragging rights in Berlin

Andrej Kramarić converted from the penalty spot - the 26th successful penalty out of 30 taken in the Bundesliga for the Croatian - while the club's top scorer this term, Maximilian Beier, netted for the fourth game in a row to seal another triumph this term. No doubt those connected with the club will be delighted with how things have been going, but Kramarić did break in with a word to the wise to temper any high hopes at this early stage.

"It's a very good start to the season, but a season has 34 matches, not five," the 32-year-old said. "Everyone knows that we also started well last season but then had problems. Nobody wants to experience that again," Kramarić added.

Boniface and Bayer blaze on

The fire will not go out at Bayer Leverkusen, at least not when their firetsarter-in-chief Victor Boniface continues to blaze in the goals for the Bundesliga's joint-leaders. The Nigerian magician was on target in Leverkusen's midweek UEFA Europa League win and he added a double in Bayer's 4-1 triumph against Heidenheim on Sunday to take his goal involvements to eight (six goals and two assists) for this Bundesliga season.

Watch: Boniface and Leverkusen are unstoppable

"I didn't expect that I would score six goals in five games," Bayer's new signing said after his latest pristine performance. "Like I said, in football, you just need to keep trying your best and see what happens in the end." It is, of course, far too early to wonder where this all might lead to for the high-flying Werkself and their titan of a striker, but it has certainly made for compelling viewing in the opening games of this unmissable season so far.