Berlin: Having decisively ended his own silverware drought with back-to-back Bundesliga titles, Harry Kane’s team-first approach has been key for a Bayern Munich side now chasing club football’s biggest prize.
Whoever makes it through Bayern’s Champions League semi-final against holders Paris Saint-Germain, with the first leg in the French capital on Tuesday, will be the favourites for the final in Budapest in May.
Last season’s Bundesliga title was Kane’s maiden team trophy, at the age of 31. Having added another league crown this season, Bayern’s habit of hoovering up trophies is already rubbing off on the England captain.
As always, Kane’s individual statistics this year have been stunning. The former Tottenham forward has 53 goals in 45 games in all competitions, the most by an Englishman in any league in almost a century.
And this time around, Kane’s goals have come at crucial moments of big games. Against Real in Madrid, his long-range strike proved to be the winner. In the second leg, Kane’s first-half goal brought Bayern level on the night and put them ahead in a quarter-final tie which was in danger of getting away from them.
Kane left England 47 goals shy of Alan Shearer’s Premier League scoring record, with some commentators wondering why he would leave with the mark in sight. But while Kane developed a reputation at Spurs for stacking up individual records rather than team honours, in hindsight the striker’s pursuit of goals was a clear example of his team focus.
Since moving to Bayern, a club with quality across the pitch and a number of threats, Kane often drops to help in the build-up, sometimes deep into midfield. Kane’s willingness to sacrifice individual honours for team objectives has never been more evident than in recent weeks, when Bayern had the league largely wrapped up and needed to focus on Europe.
After Bayern beat Dortmund in February, Kane had scored four consecutive braces. With 30 goals in 24 games, he looked on course for Robert Lewandowski’s single season record of 41 goals.
But since then, Kane has started just one of Bayern’s seven league games, as Vincent Kompany has wrapped him in cotton wool for the big stage. After coming off the bench to help Bayern come from three goals down to win 4-3 at Mainz on Saturday, Kane told reporters where his true focus lay. “It’ll be tough,” Kane said of chasing down Lewandowski’s record. “Obviously I’m here to try and win the Champions League and try and win the German Cup.
