Kane's move to Bayern for trophies is in jeopardy after losing to Leverkusen

 

You will know the pose. Head bowed, 

hands on hips, the haunting realisation 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, we 

expected with good reason 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, you feared Kane 

will again be second best when the hints 

are given out in May.

This was the kind of contest you 

expected to see him arriving into the 

penalty area with stealth, sweeping his 

right foot back and running 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 over those brutal 95 

minutes, when Alonso showed why many 

are ready to anoint him as Liverpool's 

next manager, and never mustered a 

shot. Kane's final contribution was an 

injury-time pass that rolled apologetically 

out of play.

Kane, be absolutely clear, isn’t the reason 

Bayern are floundering. His debut 

campaign in Germany, personally, has 

been excellent with 28 goals to date but 

he sought this challenge because he 

wanted more than individual recognition. 

He wanted to be a winner.

But Bayern are out of the German Cup, 

face a tricky Champions League 

assignment against Lazio and this 3-0 

defeat leaves them gasping for air in the 

quest to retain the Bundesliga title; 

worse 

for Kane, it seems that all is not well 

within in the camp.

‘To be honest, I’m ****ed off,’ Thomas 

Muller fumed about the performance 

against 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.’

Not a good sign. Perhaps Bayern will 

rouse themselves and Kane will get that 

opportunity to celebrate but to see him 

standing there so forlornly, you had to 

wonder whether history – for him at least 

– will repeat.

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 defender Jonathon Tah. 

‘We’re in a good position but we must 

keep pushing. We enjoyed this, it was 

nice. Sometimes you have to stop and 

enjoy moments. But for the next game? 

We keep going.’

Kane will do that too; he can only hope 

the rest of Bayern's listing squad will 

follow.