Kane and Davies complete emphatic Bayern Munich win over Leverkusen

Normal service has been resumed in Germany. It has in the Champions League, too, given Bayern Munich are in the quarter-finals for a sixth consecutive year. If they treat Inter with the same disdain they showed Bayer Leverkusen, whose brief spell as domestic kryptonite appears to be comprehensively over, then they may move closer to winning the trophy on home soil in May. They never looked like losing even a fraction of the three-goal lead amassed in the first leg and could count once again on Harry Kane, whose simple opener and subsequent assist for Alphonso Davies floored a weakened Leverkusen.

The home side could point to the absence of Florian Wirtz, whose next action in this competition will come in Bayern’s colours if his suitors have their way. The playmaker’s weekend injury meant that, to all intents and purposes, dreams of a comeback were over as soon as they had begun. Not even Xabi Alonso’s magic touch could compensate and a team that had outplayed Bayern here in the Bundesliga last month looked bereft of confidence here.

Within 15 minutes of the start Kane had two opportunities to reinforce his present role as the spearhead of a coherently functioning Bayern. First a sumptuous turn and precise low centre from Jamal Musiala begged conversion but, falling to the ground in mid-grapple with Mario Hermoso, he could not apply enough purchase to beat Lukas Hradecky. The keeper scrambled back to claw away from the line; when Kane took aim from further out a little later he beat the shot away and at least the tie retained some notional life.

Kane’s second strike came after seizing on a sloppy pass from defence. Leverkusen knew they needed something quickly but, almost from kick-off, their desperation looked too clear. Alonso had admitted in the buildup that a dose of chaos, rather than the control he prefers, might be required in order to swing the tie but the effect was a jumpiness that wrought little. Passes pinged off knees and toes; footings were lost and bodies opened up prematurely. A formidable Bayern press, much of the kind that had smothered them in Bavaria, abetted the confusion.

Harry Kane (third left) puts Bayern Munich ahead early in the second half. Photograph: Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters

Somehow, Leverkusen needed to show that the sum of their parts was greater than the awesome talent watching from the stands. In reconfiguring his attack Alonso had, in a break with convention, deployed the strapping Patrick Schick up front and the Czech came closer than anyone to raising the temperature. The atmosphere, more dutifully boisterous than exuding genuine belief at the outset, had sagged when Granit Xhaka dug out a dipping cross whose recipient glanced wide. Schick should perhaps have scored after meeting the ball, although the delivery was a touch high.

That was in the 37th minute and, beyond a scuff from Exequiel Palacios much earlier, was the only serious chance Leverkusen’s harum-scarum wrought. At one stage Alonso gestured for his players to compose themselves; to dispense with the one-touch stuff and make the ball work. They mustered squalls of pressure but the only composure on display oozed from Bayern’s cream jerseys. Soon after Hradecky’s second stop, a Kane-led break finished with Michael Olise curling fractionally wide. Before the half-hour Kingsley Coman lashed across goal from a tight angle and there was always the sense Bayern could run further through the gears.

At half-time Alonso may have hung on to memories of Istanbul; of the heady, swirling, Technicolored night 20 years ago when he and Liverpool took victory from Milan’s clenched jaws. But soon enough Leverkusen needed four goals, not three. Bayern had avoided alarm in the second half’s early stages when Kane scored one of his stranger goals, a straight Joshua Kimmich free-kick evading Schick and Kim Min-jae with Hradecky seemingly rooted. Kane could control and walk the ball in: while this second leg had shown no sign of exploding, it was the most low-key means of putting things beyond doubt.

This was now an exercise in pride. Bayern had a golden opportunity to show that, once and for all, national supremacy is theirs again; Leverkusen could only hope to stall them by narrowing the margin on the night. Jeremie Frimpong drew a sharp save from Jonas Urbig before Schick, this time with few excuses, allowed a smothered stop from six yards.

It was time for Bayern to flex their muscles again. They positively rippled when Kane ended a slick right-sided move by finding Davies to his left. The finish, sidefooted on the bounce, summed up the gulf that had opened up over these 180 minutes. Leverkusen were fortunate things did not deteriorate further, Kane missing when through and Jamal Musiala striking the woodwork twice. If Bayern’s most dangerous foe was the one they knew best, they may blaze a trail through Europe now.