Bayern Munich top scorer Harry Kane struck once in either half to steer the Germans to a 3-0 win over Italy’s Lazio on Tuesday and into the Champions League quarter finals with a 3-1 aggregate victory, reigniting title hopes among their fans.

Kane headed in for the lead in the 38th minute to cancel out the Lazio’s first leg 1-0 advantage and then tapped in their third goal on the rebound in the 66th after Thomas Mueller’s first-half stoppage time effort had made it 2-0.

The win provides instant relief for coach Thomas Tuchel, who will leave at the end of the season, and his team as they had won just one of their last five matches in all competitions prior to Tuesday and are currently 10 points off the top in the Bundesliga.

“It’s a perfect evening for us. It was a big game,” said Kane, who has scored six goals for Bayern in the competition and another 27 in the Bundesliga this season.

“We were 1-0 down in the first leg. It’s obviously a big moment in our season. It was a top performance.

“Of course we know we have to improve, but nights like this can really change the season. I’m really proud of the boys and we just have to keep this momentum going.”

Lazio were on the backfoot from the start and waited to hit the Germans on the break.

Ciro Immobile’s header was their best chance but it sailed narrowly wide a minute before Kane bagged his first knockout stage goal in the competition in five years with a diving header.

The Italians had succeeded for half an hour in keeping Bayern outside the box but could do nothing when Kane, who had missed an earlier chance, headed in from teammate Raphael Guerreiro’s miskick.

Jamal Musiala almost added another seconds later but his sliding shot just missed the target before Thomas Mueller headed in a Matthijs de Ligt volley.

Comfortable win

Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe scored twice to lead them into the quarter finals with a comfortable 2-1 win away to Real Sociedad that wrapped up a 4-1 aggregate victory.

Bidding to win their first Champions League title, a disciplined PSG made the most of their chances from counter attacks, with the lightning fast Mbappe a constant menace.

After a remarkable group stage when they went unbeaten to finish ahead of last year’s finalists Inter Milan in Group D, La Liga side Real Sociedad, who are struggling with injuries and have won one of their last 10 matches in all competitions, ran out of steam.

Mbappe was enjoying an inspired night and his speed and agility were too much for the hosts’ defence to handle. He was virtually unstoppable down left channel and Tuesday’s brace means he has scored 11 of PSG’s last 15 Champions League knockout goals.

“We knew right away that we couldn’t go to sleep. If they had opened the scoring, they would have pushed on with their fans’ backing,” Mbappe told Canal Plus.

“We had to dampen their hopes early on. That’s what we did, and we’re very happy to be back in the quarter finals.”

Mbappe created a couple of opportunities early on before scoring the opener with a fabulous curling strike in the 15th minute.

After receiving a pass from Ousmane Dembele, he surged into the box, darting in from the byline and feigning to shoot, before shifting the ball out of his feet again
and creating enough space to fire a curling effort into the far corner.

Reuters