Brits Abroad: Harry Kane moves to within one win of first-ever trophy as Jude Bellingham's Real Madrid secure last-gasp victory and Scott McTominay keeps Napoli in the Scudetto race

The wait is almost over. Within the next week, Kane could be a champion at long last. Bayern Munich romped their way to a 4-0 win at Heidenheim on Saturday, and with Bayer Leverkusen held to a 1-1 draw at St Pauli 24 hours later, they now have an eight-point lead atop the Bundesliga with only four games remaining.

Much talk out of Bavaria heading into Saturday's game at the Voith-Arena was centred on providing a more-than-adequate response to Bayern being dumped out of the Champions League by Inter in midweek, so Kane breaking the deadlock at the end of a flowing team move - and with his usual brute force on his weaker left foot - set the tone for a memorable day. The England captain swivelled inside from 25 yards and unleashed a fierce drive into the bottom corner to get his side on their way, with Konrad Laimer, Kingsley Coman and Joshua Kimmich also on the scoresheet.

That goal was Kane's 60th in 60 Bundesliga appearances since joining Bayern from Tottenham in 2023, and this brought about special praise from club director Max Eberl: "Harry is doing it himself. He's scoring the goals, getting involved and getting on well with his team-mates. Harry is doing everything, we as a club are doing everything - and of course we want to bring the title back to Munich."

The German media were also glowing in their reviews of Kane's performance, even if a famed perfect score from BILD escaped him, with Sport playing up his selfless "willingness to compromise". Eternal and immortal compliments aren't too far away now.

Like Bayern, Real Madrid also had plenty to prove after unceremoniously being dumped out of the Champions League, falling 5-1 on aggregate to Arsenal despite the club and Spanish media doing all they could to play mind games with the Gunners.

Bellingham was thrust back into the role of the protagonist against Athletic Club in a 1-0 triumph amid Kylian Mbappe's suspension - the Frenchman was whistled by the Santiago Bernabeu crowd when shown on the stadium's futuristic screens - as an attacking midfielder-false nine hybrid between wingers Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo. Though he covered plenty of ground and essentially did the running of veteran playmaker Luka Modric for him, he still lacked that cutting edge and missed a couple of good chances.

Nevertheless, Madrid still responded to Barcelona's 'remontada' against Celta Vigo in style, as Federico Valverde smashed in a stoppage-time winner to snatch the three points and ease the pressure on everyone at the club, not least under-fire manager Carlo Ancelotti. They are four points behind Barcelona with six rounds of fixtures remaining, while their Copa del Rey final is looming over the horizon.

For his lung-busting efforts, Bellingham was afforded some kudos by the Spanish press, though the fires of social media were far less forgiving after failing to come up with a telling contribution himself. You can't please everyone, it seems.

Scott McTominay's move to Napoli could hardly have gone any better for him and any worse for Manchester United to this point. While the Red Devils are lingering in 14th in the Premier League, the Scotland midfielder is into double figures of goals in Italy - only Romelu Lukaku on 12 has more than him in the famous sky blue - while becoming a favourite among the people of Naples.

This weekend, Napoli moved level on points with Serie A leaders Inter, who were beaten 1-0 at Bologna. Antonio Conte's side put the pressure on the Nerazzurri a day earlier after McTominay's header earned a 1-0 win of their own away at Monza.

There's always some sort of culture or civil war going on at Napoli, and the Italian press have taken aim at Conte lately for his assertions that his squad simply are not good enough to go stride-for-stride with a team like Inter. Yet here was McTominay once again coming to their rescue, all the while the British media hammer United for allowing him to leave the club so easily in the first place.

The circus of Marseille is completely inescapable even when they're winning comfortably, but this is a club who were chaotic at the best of times even before they decided to take a punt on Mason Greenwood and had Roberto De Zerbi fanning the flames of controversy every week, so it's hard to have much sympathy.

After being lambasted by De Zerbi and the French media in recent weeks for his substandard work rate, Greenwood was targeted with a banner by Marseille fans prior to their 5-1 demolition of Montpellier, telling him and winger Luiz Henrique to 'get a move on'. The forward responded with two goals, including a penalty taken with his weaker right foot. Even despite these contributions, outstanding praise for Greenwood was in short supply from the press, even if he was hailed as the game's best player.

Meanwhile, fellow Englishman Jonathan Rowe was also among the goals for OM, ending a goal drought which lasted six months. The former Norwich City attacker broke his duck in some style too, racing onto a delicious cross from Ulisses Garcia and flicking the ball in at the near post with the outside of his boot on the volley.

Marseille put a halt to their barren run of late and moved back up to second in Ligue 1 with four rounds of fixtures to go, taking advantage of Monaco's draw with Strasbourg. A top-four finish would be enough for OM to qualify for the Champions League.

It would take an almighty and almost unprecedented collapse from Ajax not to win this season's Eredivisie, but they wouldn't have inspired any confidence from their fans after being subjected to a 4-0 battering by European hopefuls Utrecht on Sunday. Sure, they remain nine points clear of PSV, who still have a game in hand, but that's not a scoreline you want to be on the end of when chasing down a title.

Henderson played all 90 minutes as captain, but picked up a yellow card to rule him out of Ajax's next game, a home clash with Sparta Rotterdam. However, sections of the Dutch press believe he will be happy to sit that one out in order to play in another match which could guarantee Ajax the crown.

Speaking to ESPN post-match, Henderson said: "It's a strange day. Of course we're disappointed with the result, but for big phases of the game we were good. We had chances and defended well, but at times not good enough. Then you concede four. It was a crazy game. A difficult one to take, but I'm sure we'll respond in the next game.

"There was little to say. You have to take it on the chin. We now have a few days to recover and keep the focus on the next four games as best we can. Today was difficult, but we take positives from it. We have to do better and give everything in the next game against Sparta. I'm suspended for the next match. You certainly don't want to miss any matches now. That's disappointing."

From August to March, Borussia Dortmund were coasting through a dreadful season. Replacing manager Edin Terzic, who guided BVB to last season's Champions League final, with former midfielder Nuri Sahin was not the stroke of genius the club thought it would be. Meanwhile, they brought in Chelsea outcast Carney Chukwuemeka late in the winter transfer window, and fans were frustrated when he was understandably not physically ready to play a part in trying to revive their campaign.

Since Niko Kovac took to the hot-seat, though, Dortmund have been trending in the right direction, even despite Champions League elimination to Barcelona after their failed attempts at a spirited comeback. They are now four games unbeaten in the Bundesliga and only four points off the top four, with their latest success down in large parts to the exploits of Chukwuemeka.

The midfielder was introduced as a first-half substitute for the injured Maximilian Beier with BVB one goal down at home to Borussia Monchengladbach on Sunday, and within 15 minutes of his arrival, the hosts had raced into a 3-1 lead. Gladbach scored a penalty after the interval to set up a nervy finish, but Kovac's men held on. Now finally fit enough for the intensity of Bundesliga football, Chukwuemeka put in an all-action performance which saw him drive with the ball, play quick passes between the lines and win possession back in the final third.

"He was a game-changer," was Kovac's assessment of Chukwuemeka post-match. Given Chelsea's recent plight, letting such a dynamic midfielder leave when they need fresh inspiration could come back to haunt them.