Harry Kane's Penalty Miss Leads to Bayern's Victory Over Wolfsburg
Harry Kane almost never misses from 12 yards. In the Bundesliga, he literally never had.
So when the England captain dragged his first-half penalty wide of the right-hand post, the Allianz Arena gasped. Wolfsburg breathed. And a match Bayern had largely controlled stayed goalless, wrapped in controversy and tension.
A penalty spot under scrutiny
The flashpoint came in the 36th minute. Konstantinos Koulierakis clattered into Michael Olise inside the box, leaving the referee with a straightforward decision. Kane, perfect from the spot in his 24 previous Bundesliga attempts, placed the ball and went through his familiar routine.
Then the script ripped.
He slipped slightly as he struck it, the ball skidding wide of Kamil Grabara’s right-hand upright. No save. No heroics. Just a miss – his first from the spot in Germany’s top flight.
Television replays quickly found another angle. Jeanuël Belocian appeared to trample on the penalty spot in the build-up, his boot seemingly disturbing the turf where Kane would plant his standing foot. The Bayern striker’s loss of footing only sharpened the questions. Had the surface been deliberately manipulated? Was it gamesmanship gone too far?
What it did, unequivocally, was keep Wolfsburg alive. Bayern’s dominance of territory and possession brought no breakthrough before the interval. The champions walked off frustrated; Wolfsburg walked off still breathing.
Olise breaks it open
The tension could not last forever. Bayern, already crowned champions and urged on by a restless home crowd, ramped up the tempo after the restart. The pressure mounted, the attacks came in waves.
Olise decided he had seen enough.
In the 56th minute, the winger collected the ball on the right, drove infield and created just enough space to unleash a left-footed strike of real venom and precision. The shot arced unreachably into the far corner, past a fully stretched Grabara. No debate this time. Just a moment of pure quality.
It was the goal Bayern’s second-half dominance demanded and the one Wolfsburg had dreaded. The match flipped instantly. Hasenhuttl’s side, so compact and dangerous on the counter in the first period – Tom Bischof had rattled the crossbar from distance – suddenly had to abandon their shell and chase.
That suited Vincent Kompany’s team perfectly.
With the lead secured, Bayern tightened their grip. The backline, which had looked occasionally vulnerable to the break, now set its line higher and suffocated space. Jamal Musiala almost killed the contest soon after Olise’s opener, gliding into the box and forcing Grabara into a superb save. Wolfsburg clung on, but the game had changed shape.
Wolfsburg on the brink
For Wolfsburg, the damage from this defeat runs beyond a single lost afternoon. Their Bundesliga status now hangs over the trapdoor.
The result means they can no longer secure safety outright through the regular table. At best, they are fighting to preserve their current position, the one that leads to the relegation play-offs and a last chance to avoid dropping into the automatic relegation places. The margins are brutal, the stakes now unmistakable.
It all funnels into a fraught final day: a decisive trip to St. Pauli, a winner-takes-all clash at the Millerntor-Stadion that will define their season and perhaps the club’s immediate future.
Hasenhuttl’s players did not fold. Far from it. They carved out moments, especially late on, when the match teetered on a knife-edge. Deep into the closing stages, Mattias Svanberg came within inches of rescuing a point, his effort cannoning back off the post with Manuel Neuer beaten. On another day, it nestles inside the upright and the narrative changes.
Yet the same problem that has stalked Wolfsburg for weeks resurfaced: a lack of ruthlessness in front of goal. They attacked with more ambition, showed more purpose, but still lacked the sharp edge to punish Bayern.
The absences of Mohamed Amoura and Kevin Paredes, omitted from the squad for “disciplinary reasons”, lingered over the performance. Without them, the Wolves missed extra pace and unpredictability in the final third – exactly what you need away to the champions when chances are scarce.
Bayern tune up for a shot at the double
For Kompany, this was more than a routine home win. It was a dress rehearsal.
With the Bundesliga title already wrapped up on Matchday 30, Bayern’s gaze has shifted firmly to the DFB-Pokal final against Stuttgart on May 23. A domestic double would not erase their disappointment in Europe, but it would reshape the story of their season.
What will please the Belgian most is how his side managed the second half. After the chaos around Kane’s miss and a nervy first period, Bayern found defensive control, shut down the counter-attacks that had threatened them, and played with a champion’s assurance once ahead.
Olise’s brilliance, Musiala’s menace, the restored solidity at the back – all of it points towards a team rediscovering its edge at just the right time.
Wolfsburg, by contrast, leave Munich with nothing but regret and a calendar circled in red. Ninety minutes in Hamburg now stand between them and the drop. How they respond to this narrow, agonising defeat will decide whether this season becomes a warning – or a full-blown fall.
