by At the Bernabeu on Wednesday night, the TV cameras caught Harry Kane watching the final moments of Bayern Munich’s collapse from behind one of the high-backed dugout chairs and briefly let him down on the usual macabre composure.
Kane is an unusual modern footballer in that he rarely allows himself to express a shred of vulnerability in difficult moments. With the hundreds of hours he’s spent on the pitch, it’s hard to recall Kane’s desperation much more clearly than staring off into the distance from time to time. But as the Real Madrid defender appeared on the pitch, he fell down, pushed his leg into the seat in front of him and could no longer watch.
At 30, of course, and still without a trophy, his story is one of the strongest stories of football. It is a remarkable result how the great English scorer of his generation finished with nothing at this stage of his career. It’s sure to win something at home in the end at a dysfunctional Bayern, still without a manager for next season, just yet – anyway.
He was the star of Tottenham’s best team for two decades. The star of the England side was the best the country had known for at least 30 years. Now he is at the forefront of a Bayern team that has given up a dominant position in Germany for the first time in 12 years. Which all goes to show that trophy-winning art can be hard to pin down.
On all occasions the edges were fine. Real are on the verge of six Champions League titles in 11 years in the UEFA competition which the club are still trying to pull off. They haven’t always had the best team in every edition they’ve won, but these things can gather strange momentum.
Kane’s goal scoring was brilliant. He has developed into a dominant all-rounder who is rarely seen in the English game. His eight goals and four goals in the Champions League this season once again make him one of the giants of the European game. It is an indication that not even the League Cup is to show him the dangers of career planning or any indication of his abilities.
Kane, 24, signed a six-year contract at Spurs ahead of the World Cup finals in the summer of 2018. The player was a very rich young man and gave the club all the power. Elsewhere Kane may be worth five trophies at Spurs. Also, it was great for the competition that one of the wealthiest clubs outside the Premier League’s elite could retain possession of a player of his stature. But was it great for Kane?
The fact that his career was slower than many others in the minors meant that his first major contract was signed later in the career arc of a typical big-name player. If he had signed it in 2016, the dynamic would have been different, but everything is gone now.
What remains is the lesson of how ruthless key players need to be in their brief prime at elite level. Kane knew in 2018 that he was going to be less than a month from his 31st birthday when that contract was due to expire – at the end of June this year. He will also know how obscure Daniel Levy was. A move to Bayern last summer was not a bad option with one year remaining on his 2018 Spurs deal, but Kane’s situation did not give him all the options. He was not going to sell to a Premier League rival.
Real’s defeat came on the fifth anniversary of Spurs’ historic return to Amsterdam in the Champions League semi-finals, when Lucas Moura’s hat-trick saw them win against Ajax. That night Kane was in the middle of a rare long injury absence. An ankle issue meant he had not played since 9 April and would not do so again until the final against Liverpool on 1 June. That felt like a risk on the night and so it was. Moura fell out with Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino at the time, and Kane was not Kane.
Against Real, Thomas Tuchel said he had no choice in the closing stages but to replace Kane, who was suffering from back problems. Once again, Kane’s poker face never suggested a question. One can only assume it must have been bad. Kane is a master of finishing a game – from defending corners to winning free-kicks on the spot.
The Bundesliga’s new top scorer now has a few weeks off before leading England in Germany at the Euros. To his credit, Kane retains the fierce sense of a competitor but never loses the cheerful attitude of a man willing to accept the consequences of the game. Perhaps this summer ends the curse of the trophy with England. It is certainly not a reflection of the talent of one of England’s great football players.
