This Sunday sees the battle of the Bundesliga record breakers featuring Bayern Munich’s brilliant forward Harry Kane and VfB’s striking sensation Serhou Guirassy. But who will prevail in the Matchday 15 showdown when second plays third at the Allianz Arena? bundesliga.com assesses the striking terrain.
The case for Kane
“I knew he was good, but I didn’t know he was that good,” Kane’s teammate Kingsley Coman said of England’s record goalscorer in an interview with Sky Sports this week. Bayern’s nerveless No.9 arrived in the Bundesliga just four months ago and roared straight into goalscoring form. Currently the German top-flight’s top scorer with 18 goals, King Kane’s transition from England’s Premier League has been seamless and how Bayern’s fans have enjoyed the ride.
The 30-year-old’s 18 strikes in the Bavarian giants’ opening 12 Bundesliga games represented a new division record while his three hat-tricks to this point equals the respective feats of Cologne’s Christian Müller and Gladbach’s Peter Meyer some 60 years ago.
Watch: Harry Kane – My Story
And it’s not just the goals that has the Londoner on top of the European game right now, Kane’s five Bundesliga assists mean he is on 23 goal involvements – a league high – and has thus had a hand in more than half of Bayern’s goals to date. It is not only his sharply-trained eye for scoring, but his altruistic attitude on the field that is marking Kane out as an altogether different elite striker.
“I think the difference is that he’s not selfish and normally, most No.9s are selfish,” Coman informed Sky. “They need to score a lot of goals and that’s the reason they do so. At the moment [Harry] scores a lot of goals but he also gives crazy nice passes to Leroy [Sané] or to me or to Jamal [Musiala] and to everyone. I think that’s what makes the difference: he’s more of a team player than most of the strikers I have played with.”
Coman has played with some of the best around, as the current Bayern schemer and former Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus attacker recalled: “I’ve been used to playing with amazing strikers (in my career), like Lewandowski, Benzema in the national team or even Tevez back in the day so it’s really nice to have someone that you can rely on to score goals.”
Harry Kane (l.) has really hit it off with his new Bayern Munich teammates. – IMAGO/Bernd Feil/M.i.S.
Indeed, reliability is a Kane speciality. The 6’2″ forward has scored at least 24 goals in all competitions in each of the last nine seasons [he’s currently on 22 for 2023/24] while in his last three years in England he missed just four Premier League games and was even ever present in his final English top-flight campaign.
“It was always clear to me what he could do; there was no doubt in my mind,” Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel said of his superstar striker. “[I knew he could] score goals and set up goals on any pitch in the world. He is in exactly the right place at Bayern,” the tactician added. Bayern’s sporting director Christoph Freund, meanwhile, stated simply that Kane was, “a phenomenon.”
That’s certainly the case when you consider that the former Tottenham Hotspur favourite has the best finishing efficiency [+5.3] in the Bundesliga and has the second-most shots on goal in the league after Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface, meaning England’s all-time top scorer only needs on average three shots on goal to score.
Watch: What makes Kane so goood?
“I’m proud of the great start,” Kane acknowledged recently. “Of course, the team deserves all the gratitude; they provide me with the opportunities,” he continued. “I enjoy playing in this team [as] we create many chances to score.”
The case for Guirassy
For Guinea international Guirassy – currently second in the Bundesliga scoring stakes with 16 goals – the presence of rival forward Kane has given everyone in the league a lift. “It’s something big to be competing with Harry Kane, who is a world-class striker,” the France-born forward said in an interview with The Guardian. “I think he has pushed a lot of strikers in the Bundesliga to raise their level to try to compete with him.”
And competing with Bayern’s brilliant marksman is something Guirassy has revelled in this season. Stuttgart’s own No.9 has also been rattling off the records in an incredible campaign to date.
Watch: The making of Serhou Guirassy
His 14 goals inside the opening eight matchdays was unprecedented and were it not for an untimely hamstring injury – which saw him miss two games – those numbers would surely be higher given Guirassy’s exceptional form. It’s even perhaps not all that surprising that the two games Guirassy missed on Matchdays nine and 10, Stuttgart lost.
Now back fighting fit and firing again, the 27-year-old has kicked on, netting twice from the penalty spot as VfB picked up big wins against Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen. His 16 Bundesliga goals so far already equals the totals reached by Christopher Nkunku and Niclas Füllkrug, who finished as the Bundesliga’s joint-highest scorers last season. Guirassy’s current tally also represents a new personal best for any previous entire single campaign in his career.
“He’s physically strong, athletic, can play well and he scores goals,” Stuttgart coach Sebastian Hoeneß said of the Guinea international. “With all these qualities, he’s [been] a very important factor for us.”
Watch: Harry Kane and Serhou Guirassy compared
Whatever else happens this season, the one-time Cologne frontman is already in the Stuttgart record books. He has shattered the previous VfB Hinrunde (the first half of the Bundesliga season) best of 12 goals shared by Ohlicher, Allgöwer, Bobic and Elber, four former Swabian stars. Guirassy also scored more than once in five games in the opening seven matchdays, another Bundesliga first.
“I just play my game and if I can score or provide an assist, then I will do that,” the striker told The Guardian. “When you have a good period you want to do more. I’m happy about what I have achieved but for me it’s not finished. I want to continue.”
The top Bundesliga scorer in 2023 with 23 goals, Guirassy’s current finishing efficiency of +5.1 is second only to that of Kane’s while he far exceeds his xGoals value of 10.9. His two hat-tricks and three braces in 2023/24 have added significant bulk to a tremendous term. With 27 goals in his 34 Bundesliga for Stuttgart, the former Lille, Amiens and Rennes player is currently in a category very few players occupy in the world game.
Watch: Guirassy and Undav – VfB’s deadly duo
It all serves up to make the Kane vs. Guirassy battle this coming Sunday unmissable. So make sure you log on to follow all of the action when Bayern host Stuttgart on the Bundesliga app, bundesliga.com and across our social channels from 7.30pm CET.
