Haunted Harry sees no end in sight to his medal famine
YOU will know the pose. Head bowed, hands on hips, the haunting realisation that a chance to finally become a winner had slipped away. Harry Kane cut that figure in Moscow and Madrid, Wembley and Doha but he could never have foreseen adding Leverkusen to his destinations of despair. But here he was, shattered, confronting the prospect that another calamity is potentially unfolding.
When Kane cut ties with Tottenham last summer, we expected with good reason that his medal famine would end. Bayern Munich always win the Bundesliga and had signed England’s captain for £100million — how could things go wrong?
Well, things are certainly going wrong now. Bayern have time to extricate themselves from a situation that sees them trail Xabi Alonso’s effervescent collective by five points but, watching them get ripped apart here, you feared Kane will again be second best when the baubles are given out in May.
This was the kind of contest in which you expected to see him arrive in the penalty area with stealth, sweep his right foot back and run off with that trademark celebration: a kiss of his left hand and a little jump in the air.
To stand a chance of doing that, though, he needed to see the ball — and he didn’t. He got 18 touches and never mustered a shot over those brutal 95 minutes, as Alonso showed why many are ready to anoint him as Liverpool’s next manager. Kane’s final contribution was a pass that rolled apologetically out of play.
Kane (right) isn’t the reason Bayern are floundering. His debut campaign in Germany has been excellent, with 28 goals, but he sought this challenge because he wanted more t han i ndividual recognition. He wanted to be a winner.
But Bayern are out of the German Cup, face a tricky Champions League l ast- 16 tie against Lazio and this 3- 0 defeat leaves them gasping for air in the quest to retain the Meisterschale (the Bundesliga trophy). Worse for Kane, it seems all is not well within the camp. ‘To be honest, I’m p***ed off,’ Thomas Muller fumed about the performance at Leverkusen. ‘What is missing from this team is balls. There has to be energy. It is not just about looking at the coach (Thomas Tuchel). It’s about the players taking responsibility.’ Perhaps Bayern will r ouse themselves and Kane will get that opportunity to celebrate but as he stood there so forlornly, you had to wonder if history will repeat itself. All the momentum is with Alonso and his men, whose triumph was secured with goals from Josip Stanisic, Alex Grimaldo and Jeremie Frimpong. ‘The mentality (Alonso) has given us is that the season isn’t over, it’s one win,’ said Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah. ‘We’re in a good position but we must keep pushing. You have to stop and enjoy moments. But for the next game? We keep going.’ Kane will do so too. He can only hope the rest of Bayern’s listing squad will follow.