Kane eyes record with Bayern on brink of Bundesliga title
Bayern Munich could clinch the Bundesliga title this weekend, but they will need a little help from Augsburg, who play Bayer Leverkusen.
Bayern Munich can secure the Bundesliga title on Saturday with a win over Mainz, if reigning champions Bayer Leverkusen fail to beat Augsburg.
Bayern saw Leverkusen clinch a league and DFB-Pokal double last season after going undefeated domestically, and are eager to seal their 34th German league crown.
Having won 11 consecutive titles before Leverkusen's triumph, Bayern will hope this re-establishes their domestic dominance, while also helping to put last week's bitter Champions League quarter-final exit to Inter behind them.
However, they have suffered just two defeats in the Bundesliga this season, with one of those coming in Mainz (2-1) in December.
For 31-year-old forward Harry Kane, who has scored 60 goals in his first 60 Bundesliga matches for Bayern, it would be the first major club trophy of his career, having failed to lift any silverware with Tottenham or England.
With 24 league goals so far this term, Kane is also on track to become the first player to finish as the league's top scorer in each of his first two seasons. He has scored six more goals than Patrik Schick (18).
Bayern are on 72 points with four matches left to play, and with Leverkusen second on 64.
For 35-year-old Bayern veteran Thomas Muller, who will be leaving at the end of the season after 25 years at the club, it could be his 500th league game for Bayern.
Only three other players in Bundesliga history have ever reached that mark playing for just one club: Charly Korbel (602 games for Eintracht Frankfurt), Manfred Kaltz (581 matches for Hamburg) and Michael Lameck (518 for Bochum).
While Bayern's title win looks all but certain, and Leverkusen are sure of Champions League football next season, being 12 points ahead of Eintracht, there is a battle raging for the last two Champions League spots.
Eintracht, third on 52 points, host fourth-placed RB Leipzig, on 49, on Saturday. Freiburg, on 48, are fifth.
Mainz, sixth on 47 points, and seventh-placed Borussia Dortmund on 45, are also still in with a chance, albeit slim, of finishing in the top four.
Dortmund, who travel to Hoffenheim on Saturday, have had a disappointing domestic campaign, dropping outside of the European spots.
Failure to qualify for the Champions League, a competition in which they reached the final last year, would be a major blow to the club.
But club bosses know that the horror scenario would be missing out on European football completely next season.