Harry Kane rises to the occasion for Bayern Munich

This guest post was written by Zach Lowy, Chief Editor and Social Media Manager of BreakingTheLines.com. Zach is a successful journalist and can be followed at @ZachLowy on X and ‪@zachlowy.bsky.social‬ on Bluesky. Zach’s work can also be found on FotMob, BetUS and others.

Sometimes, all you need is a world-class center forward to win a football match – just ask Bayern Munich.

The Bavarian behemoths currently sit three points behind UEFA Champions League leaders Arsenal, with one match remaining in the league phase, and they are guaranteed to finish no lower than fourth. Over in the Bundesliga, meanwhile, they sit 11 points clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund following a sensational run of form that has seen them take 50 points from a potential 54. There have been quite a few different factors, from the emergence of new players like Lennart Karl and Tom Bischof, to Luis Díaz’s instant impact in attack, to Joshua Kimmich’s reliable displays in midfield. However, arguably the biggest impact has come from none other than Harry Kane.

Over the course of his two decades at Tottenham Hotspur, Kane ascended from the academy to the biggest stage in world football and asserted himself as one of the best strikers in the world, racking up an astonishing 280 goals and 63 assists in 435 appearances and establishing himself as the all-time leading scorer for both England and Tottenham. However, there was one thing that was missing: trophies.

Desperate to secure the first trophy of his career, Kane made the move to Bayern Munich in 2023, with the German giants paying a Bundesliga record €110 million. Kane proved to be money well spent, racking up an astonishing 44 goals and 12 assists in 45 matches and winning his maiden European Golden Shoe. Similarly to other center forwards like Keinan Davis, Kane combined stellar hold-up play with ice-cold finishing skills and immediately confirmed his status as the best player in Germany. But alas, there was still something missing: a trophy.

After a humiliating 2023/24 season which saw them torn asunder by Bayer Leverkusen’s all-conquering machine, Bayern were able to reassert themselves as Germany’s top dogs under new manager Vincent Kompany and claim a record-extending 34th Bundesliga title, thanks in large part to Kane’s 41 goals and 14 assists in 51 matches. At nearly 32 years of age, Kane finally had a piece of silverware in his trophy cabinet, although his critics still argued that this was the equivalent of getting your first kiss from your grandma. In order to convince everyone, he was going to have to get the job done in one of the biggest competitions in the world.

Somehow, someway, Kane has been able to become an even better player this season, racking up a barely believable 34 goals and 4 assists in 29 appearances. And after being kept under wraps in his previous three Champions League matches, Kane was able to return to the score sheet on Wednesday. Just when Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise looked to be closing in on the opening goal, Kane broke the deadlock after halftime after timing his near-post run to perfection and heading home from a tight angle. He was back at it shortly after, receiving on the edge of defense, feigning to shoot, before tricking the goalkeeper into fouling him, and converting the resulting spotkick.

While he was unable to complete his hat-trick after squandering a second penalty, he atoned for his miss after picking the ball up from a deep area and splitting the defense like a knife through butter and finding an unmarked Díaz. The Colombian squared it to Michael Olise, who, rather than tucking it in from close range, skyrocketed his shot over the bar. All things considered, it was yet another reminder why Kane deserves to be considered one of the very best players in world football alongside the likes of Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal, Erling Haaland, Ousmane Dembélé and Lionel Messi. And it’s more evidence that, if England are to finally win their first trophy in six decades, they’ll need Kane to be at his best in this summer’s FIFA World Cup.

“I think that resilience is evident from Kane’s career. If you look at his career, the resilience he showed to keep going, to have that self-belief, to go out on loan again and again and then put himself where he is now, I think that is absolutely incredible,” stated ex-EFL defender Wayne Thomas. “He’s someone that players should really aspire to be, to have that self-belief and determination to keep going, to realize your abilities, your strengths, and to keep going no matter what setbacks you face. The figures speak for themselves: the amount of goals that he scores, the types of goals that he scores, the range of passing, his technical acuteness, the tactical awareness, it’s all incredible, and that comes from the amount of football that he’s played throughout his career and the different contexts and the different scenarios that he’s put himself in. That’s why he’s able to go and replay that position that he’s been in before again and again, and be able to refine that throughout the years.”

“I don’t think he was fit at the last FIFA World Cup, but a fit and firing Harry Kane gives us every chance of winning it, he’s going to be vital for us. We’ve got a really good squad, and Thomas Tuchel seems like he’s not trying to just cram in all of the best players into one team.   into one squad. He’s actually looking at the squad, and saying, ‘This is the best player for this position, this is the best player for that position, these are the best players for the squad culture.’ We’ve got an embarrassment of riches at the moment – how many number 10s have we got? – we could play with one or two 10s. We’re going to have to leave some arguably elite European-class elite footballers at home…we’re in a great position, and having a captain like Harry Kane fit and firing, you really couldn’t ask for anyone better to be leading the line in this tournament at the moment.”

After surpassing Eusébio and Filippo Inzaghi with his brace against Union Saint-Gilloise and becoming the 15th-leading scorer in the history of the Champions League, Kane will be looking to continue his goalscoring heroics against relegation-threatened Augsburg before taking on PSV Eindhoven in their final league match. If he scores another brace, he will surpass Mohamed Salah (as long as he doesn’t score vs. Qarabag), Andriy Shevchenko and Zlatan Ibrahimović in the all-time scoring charts. If he scores a hat-trick, he’ll surpass Alfredo Di Stéfano and move to 11th on the table.

This guest post was written by Zach Lowy, Chief Editor and Social Media Manager of BreakingTheLines.com. Zach is a successful journalist and can be followed at @ZachLowy on X and ‪@zachlowy.bsky.social‬ on Bluesky. Zach’s work can also be found on FotMob, BetUS and others.

You can also read some of Zach’s other work below:

If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…

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