When Harry Kane was on the pitch, Bayern Munich were heading to the Champions League final. When he wasn’t there, they weren’t – and aren’t.
Thomas Tuchel substituted Kane in the 85th minute against Real Madrid. At that point, Bayern were protecting a one-goal lead and were going to Wembley with the England captain having led their charge.
So while there are other factors in play – notably Manuel Neuer’s error as he spilled the ball to allow Joselu his first of a dramatic late double, plus Madrid’s innate ability to win big European games even when hope seems lost – the substitution has been pinpointed as the turning point.
It also encapsulates what 2023-24 has been for Bayern – a season where they have looked lost when without Kane. And now, Kane ends his debut campaign at the club with nothing.
“He has done his job. He has scored the goals,” Champions League winner Rio Ferdinand told TNT Sports.
“They brought him to continue winning trophies and I feel the others have let him down more than anything. I think he will have a heavy heart tonight.”
While Bayern were hunting the seventh European Cup in their history, Kane was looking for the first major trophy of an otherwise stellar career.
Certainly, this season could not have been better from an individual perspective for Kane, scoring 44 goals in all competitions – his best scoring season.
Yet while Kane has shone, this flawed Bayern side have fallen short and will end the season without a major trophy for the first time since 2011-12.
“I feel so sorry for Kane. What a superstar he has been and he doesn’t have an opportunity [in a Champions League final],” former Bayern midfielder Owen Hargreaves said.
“Poor guy. He has been amazing this season and that just didn’t go to plan in the last 10 minutes.”
The moment Tuchel lost this for Bayern
In that 2011-12 campaign when Bayern finished empty-handed, Kane was finishing a season on loan from Tottenham to Millwall, where he scored seven goals in 22 League One games and was still a year away from his Premier League debut.
This season, he has almost singlehandedly tried to drag Bayern to glory.
Bayern’s second highest scorer, Jamal Musiala – also subbed off in Madrid – has just 12 goals in all competitions.
However, hampered by poor performances and bad decisions around him, Kane has come up just short.
Bayern lost their 11-year grip on the Bundesliga title to Bayer Leverkusen, were knocked out of the German Cup by third-tier Saarbrucken and now they will be stunned having seemed set for an all-German final in the Champions League.
After a quiet opening quarter of the match at the Santiago Bernabeu, Kane sprung to life with a snap volley from the edge of the box in the 28th minute which Andriy Lunin had to go full stretch down to his left to save.
But Bayern around him were again off the pace, with a passive showing that saw Madrid dominate. Only a series of fine saves from Neuer kept the tie level, until Kane made his most telling intervention.
Alphonso Davies’ strike with his supposed weaker right foot to put Bayern ahead on the night caught the eye, but it was Kane who made the play by dropping deep, then spraying an idea pass out to the left for the Canadian full-back to take on, cut inside and fire home.
Kane’s value to Bayern stretches way beyond goals. He even led the complaints to the referee when Nacho shoved Joshua Kimmich in the face before Madrid appeared to have equalised, prior to the goal being ruled out by VAR.
But then came the turning point, as with five minutes remaining Tuchel replaced Kane with Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting as part of a series of changes to try to see out the match.
“That will be viewed as the moment Tuchel lost this for Bayern,” German football expert Archie Rhind-Tutt told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“You could see it in his facial expression after the second Madrid goal went in – he looked shaken. He usually has a very good poker face, Tuchel. That for me was a guy who knew it had all gone wrong.”
Tuchel, due to depart at the end of the season, defended his call, saying Kane was in no state to continue.
“He couldn’t keep going. He played with back pain and he couldn’t keep going, his back froze up,” Tuchel said.
Shortly before Kane came off, Choupo-Moting’s fellow former Stoke City player Joselu was thrown on by Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti – and he snatched the striking glory.
As the Real players sprinted on to the pitch to celebrate Joselu’s winner, Kane was left in the away team dugout to wonder what might have been.
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