Bayern restores 6-point Bundesliga lead but far from impressive in win over St. Pauli

BERLIN (AP) — Leroy Sané scored twice and Harry Kane added to his Bundesliga-best tally as Bayern Munich restored its six-point lead by beating St. Pauli 3-2 on Saturday.

The visitor made a courageous start and went close to scoring when captain Jackson Irvine’s header was deflected onto the crossbar. Then Bayern pounced on a mistake with Michael Olise crossing for Kane’s league-leading 22nd goal in the 17th minute.

“The difference was Bayern didn't give us any gifts and we unfortunately gave (gifts),” Elias Saad said. He equalized in the 27th when Manolis Saliakas was given enough space on the right to cross for the Tunisia forward.

Sané restored Bayern’s lead in the 53rd with a low shot across goal after being sent through by Olise, then scored again to seal the win.

Lars Ritzka pulled one back for St. Pauli in stoppage time after Bayern defender Hiroki Ito was unable to play the final minutes. It’s the latest injury blow to Bayern’s defense with Alphonso Davies and Dayot Upamecano out with knee injuries.

“It was a deserved win, just we made it unnecessarily exciting at the end with the goal we conceded,” Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund said.

The victory ended Bayern's two-game winless streak in the Bundesliga, but coach Vincent Kompany will face questions about his team's vulnerabilities in defense — particularly with the shortages he faces there.

Bayern faces Inter Milan in the Champions League quarterfinals on April 8.

Mario Götze, whose goal won the 2014 World Cup final, scored the winner for Eintracht Frankfurt to beat Stuttgart 1-0 and boost its Champions League qualification prospects.

The former Germany star's 70th-minute goal lifted Frankfurt to third place with a five-point cushion over Borussia Mönchengladbach as it bids to finish among the top four and qualify for Europe's top competition.

Stuttgart goalkeeper Alexander Nübel got his fingertips to Hugo Larsson's shot to push it onto the post, but it fell kindly for Götze to break the deadlock.

Stuttgart's Ameen Al-Dakhil was sent off in the 57th for a foul on Hugo Ekitiké as the last defender. The French forward would have been through on goal.

Alassane Plea’s header after the break was enough for Gladbach to beat Leipzig 1-0 and move above the visiting team to fifth, two points behind Mainz, which visits Borussia Dortmund on Sunday.

Leipzig can drop to seventh, outside the European qualification places, if Freiburg gets a point against Union Berlin on Sunday.

Also on Saturday, Heidenheim boosted its survival hopes with a 1-0 win at Wolfsburg, Hoffenheim drew with Augsburg 1-1, and Werder Bremen won at bottom side Holstein Kiel 3-0.

Defending champion Bayer Leverkusen temporarily cut Bayern’s lead to three points with a 3-1 win over Bochum on Friday. Seven rounds remain after this weekend.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Frankfurt's Mario G'tze, right and Stuttgart's Finn Jeltsch vie for the ball, during a German Bundesliga soccer match between Eintracht Frankfurt and VfB Stuttgart, at Deutsche Bank Park, in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Arne Dedert/dpa via AP)

Frankfurt's Arthur Theate, foreground center and goalkeeper Kaua Santos vie for the ball before Stuttgart's Nick Woltemade, left, during a German Bundesliga soccer match between Eintracht Frankfurt and VfB Stuttgart, at Deutsche Bank Park, in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Arne Dedert/dpa via AP)

Frankfurt's Ansgar Knauff, left vies for the ball with Stuttgart goalkeeper Alexander N'bel, center and Maximilian Mittelst'dt, during a German Bundesliga soccer match between Eintracht Frankfurt and VfB Stuttgart, at Deutsche Bank Park, in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Arne Dedert/dpa via AP)

Referee Deniz Aytekin, foreground, shows Stuttgart's Ameen Al Dakhil the red card, during a German Bundesliga soccer match between Eintracht Frankfurt and VfB Stuttgart, at Deutsche Bank Park, in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Arne Dedert/dpa via AP)

Bayern Munich's Harry Kane, right, celebrates after scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and St. Pauli, at the Allianz Arena stadium in Munich, Germany, Saturday March 29, 2025. (Peter Kneffel/dpa via AP)

St. Pauli's Danel Sinani, left, and Bayern Munich's Joshua Kimmich fight for the ball during the Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and St. Pauli, at the Allianz Arena stadium in Munich, Germany, Saturday March 29, 2025. (Leonie Asendorpf/dpa via AP)

St. Pauli's Elias Saad is embraced by his teammates after scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and St. Pauli, at the Allianz Arena stadium in Munich, Germany, Saturday March 29, 2025. (Leonie Asendorpf/dpa via AP)

Bayern Munich's Jamal Musiala drives the ball surrounded by rivals during the Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and St. Pauli, at the Allianz Arena stadium in Munich, Germany, Saturday March 29, 2025. (Leonie Asendorpf/dpa via AP)

Bayern Munich's Leroy Sane celebrates after scoring their side's second goal of the game during the Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and St. Pauli, at the Allianz Arena stadium in Munich, Germany, Saturday March 29, 2025. (Peter Kneffel/dpa via AP)

Bayern Munich's Leroy Sane, centre, and teammate Harry Kane high five as they celebrate after Sane scored their side's second goal of the game during the Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and St. Pauli, at the Allianz Arena stadium in Munich, Germany, Saturday March 29, 2025. (Peter Kneffel/dpa via AP)

Bayern Munich's Leroy Sane celebrates scoring their side's third goal of the game during the Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and St. Pauli, at the Allianz Arena stadium in Munich, Germany, Saturday March 29, 2025. (Peter Kneffel/dpa via AP)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s top education official, who will guide policies affecting K-12 schools during President Donald Trump’s second term, will be elected Tuesday in a race between the teachers union-backed incumbent and a Republican-supported critic.

The electorate will also decide whether to enshrine a voter ID law in the state constitution.

Both contests have sharp partisan divisions, though they have drawn far less spending and national attention than the race for control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Polls closed at 8 p.m. CDT.

Here’s a look at the two contests:

The race to lead the state Department of Public Instruction pits incumbent Jill Underly, who is backed by Democrats and the teachers union, against consultant Brittany Kinser, a supporter of the private school voucher program who is endorsed by Republicans but calls herself a moderate.

Wisconsin is the only state where voters elect the top education official but there is no state board of education. That gives the superintendent broad authority to oversee education policy, from dispersing school funding to managing teacher licensing.

The winner will take office at a time when test scores are still recovering from the pandemic, the achievement gap between white and Black students remains the worst in the country and more schools are asking voters to raise property taxes to pay for operations.

Underly’s education career began in 1999 as a high school social studies teacher in Indiana. She moved to Wisconsin in 2005 and worked for five years at the state education department. She also was principal of Pecatonica Elementary School for a year before becoming district administrator.

Underly, 47, was elected state superintendent in 2021 and was endorsed by the union, the Wisconsin Education Association Council, as well as the Wisconsin Democratic Party and numerous Democratic officeholders.

Kinser, whose backers include the Wisconsin Republican Party and former Republican Govs. Tommy Thompson and Scott Walker, is vying to become the first GOP-affiliated person to hold the superintendent position in more than 30 years.

She worked for almost 10 years as a special education teacher and instructional coach in Chicago Public Schools. After that she spent 15 years at public charter schools in Chicago, California and Milwaukee.

In the Milwaukee area, Kinser worked for Rocketship schools, part of a national network of public charter institutions, and became its executive director for the region.

In 2022 she left Rocketship for City Forward Collective, a Milwaukee nonprofit that advocates for charter and voucher schools. She also founded a consulting firm where she currently works.

Kinser, 47, tried to brand Underly as being a poor manager of the Department of Public Instruction and keyed in on her overhaul of state achievement standards last year.

Underly said that was done to better reflect what students are learning now, but the change was met with bipartisan opposition including from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who was previously state superintendent himself. Evers has not made an endorsement in the race.

Kinser said the new standards lowered the bar for students and made it more difficult to evaluate how schools and districts are performing over time.

Underly portrayed Kinser as nothing more than a lobbyist who doesn’t care about public education. Kinser supports the state’s private school voucher and charter school program, which Democrats and Underly oppose on the grounds that such programs siphon needed money away from public schools.

Wisconsin’s photo ID requirement for voting would be elevated from state law to constitutional amendment under a proposal placed on the ballot by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Even if voters say no to that, the requirement, which has been on the books since 2011, will remain in place as law. It went into effect permanently in 2016 after a series of unsuccessful lawsuits.

Republicans pitched the amendment it as a way to bolster election security and protect the law from being overturned in court.

Democratic opponents argued that photo ID requirements are often enforced unfairly, making voting more difficult for people of color, disabled people and poor people.

If voters pass the measure, it would make it more difficult for a future Legislature controlled by Democrats to change the law. Any constitutional amendment must be approved in two consecutive legislative sessions and by a statewide popular vote.

Wisconsin is one of nine states where people must present photo ID to vote, and its requirement is the nation’s strictest, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Thirty-six states have laws requiring or requesting that voters show some sort of identification, according to the NCSL.

Maximillian Marquez, left, walks to a voting booth at the Milwaukee Academy of Chinese Language to cast a ballot in the state's Supreme Court election, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)

A voter casts a ballot during early voting in Waukesha, Wis., Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)