Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane celebrates after scoring a penalty in the Champions League first leg semi-final against Real Madrid. Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane celebrates after scoring a penalty in the Champions League first leg semi-final against Real Madrid. Picture: Michaela Stache / AFP
Harry Kane has never been regarded a real modern-day great of the game, despite being one of the most prolific and consistent strikers of his generation.
The fact that he is yet to win a major trophy during his career seems to count against him when compared to contemporary greats such as Mohamed Salah and Robert Lewandowski.
Kane has come close a few times with Tottenham Hotspur, who he played most of his professional career for before making the move to Bayern Munich at the start of the season.
Tottenham lost out on the Premier League to Leicester and Chelsea in the late 2010s and lost to Liverpool in the final of the 2019 Champions League. Bitter pills to swallow for the striker.
It’s Harry Kane day 🫡 pic.twitter.com/F5c3zeU14n
— davina (@davina_thfc) May 8, 2024
But Kane has arguably been the best No 9 in the world in recent seasons, by not only scoring bags of goals, but also putting up good numbers in the assists column with his vision and wonderful range of passing.
At the end of the 2020/21 season, Kane won the Premier League’s Golden Boot and the Playmaker awards, for the most goals in assists that season. Only the third player to do so.
But still, he hardly featured when the nominations for the Ballon d'Or awards.
On Wednesday night, however, the England captain can take another step towards getting that trophyless monkey off his back when Bayern take on Real Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final.
The first leg ended 2-2 after a pulsating match in Munich, with Kane calmly slotting a penalty.
Reporter: Is there anything that's surprised you about Harry Kane? 🤔
— Hayters TV (@HaytersTV) May 8, 2024
Tuchel: How much cappuccino he drinks a day... it's ridiculous! 😂
🎤 @andydunnmirror
🔗 https://t.co/QKp8C2taQg pic.twitter.com/p9hHt8Gs7L
Kane has scored a career-best 44 goals in 44 matches across all competitions in his first year at Bayern, ahead of Wednesday's clash at the Santiago Bernabeu. And his manager Thomas Tuchel is hoping to get another big performance out of his star man. Not just for Bayern, but for himself and the doubters.
"I knew we'd get a big personality into the dressing room on top of everything you can analyse, goalscoring, movements, dealing with the pressure," Tuchel told a news conference.
"He was captain of Tottenham and is still captain of the English national team. He brought everything to the table that we could possibly hope for - and tomorrow he needs to prove the point and deliver."
Kane is in red-hot form, but now is the time to put his name in lights ... to show that belongs in the same conversation as the modern day greats.
Additional reporting by AFP
@JohnGoliath82