Harry Kane set a new Champions League record on Wednesday night despite Bayern Munich’s dramatic defeat to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.
Harry Kane set a new Champions League record on Wednesday despite Bayern Munich suffering a dramatic defeat to Real Madrid.
The semi-final tie between the two European giants was evenly poised at 2-2 on aggregate ahead of the second leg at the Bernabeu.
Bayern were bidding to set up a final with Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund, who produced one of their best continental results of all time as they defeated Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night.
Heading into the 88th minute, it appeared that Bayern would join Dortmund in the final at Wembley with Alphonso Davies having given them the lead with a sweetly-struck strike midway through the second half.
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Bayern suffer Champions League heartbreak
However, Thomas Tuchel and his side would suffer heartbreak during the closing stages as Joselu‘s late double turned the game on its head.
Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer spilled a cross to give the forward a simple chance from close range, before the veteran was on hand to convert a low cross from Antonio Rudiger, the goal being given via VAR.
There was also controversy in the final seconds as the assistant signalled for offside moments before Bayern had the ball in the net through Matthijs de Ligt. It was a borderline call that would have required VAR to make a decision.
As a result, Kane will end his first season at the Allianz Arena without a trophy, following on from his stint with former club Tottenham Hotspur.
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What record did Kane set?
The only positive that the England captain could take from Wednesday night was setting an individual record for goal contributions in the competition.
With his assist for Davies’s opener, Kane made it four assists for the 2023-24 tournament, adding to his eight strikes from 12 appearances.
That combined total of 12 goal contributions is the most ever by an Englishman in a single edition of the Champions League.
In total throughout his career, Kane now has 29 goals and nine assists from his 44 appearances in the Champions League, while he continues to enjoy an incredible individual campaign for Bayern.
Kane has chipped in with 44 strikes and 12 assists from 45 outings in all competitions. By comparison, Robert Lewandowski only enjoyed three better seasons – all between 2019 and 2022 – during his legendary stint with Bayern.
Bayern end the season with fixtures against Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim as they bid to finish in second place in the Bundesliga table, the current gap to Stuttgart being two points.
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