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Harry Kane was on the road to nowhere at Bayern Munich just a few weeks ago as the star of club sponsor Audi’s latest advertising spot.
‘Harry, you know Umleitung isn’t a place right?’ passenger Thomas Muller says in the commercial. He is sat next to Kane who is driving, struggling with the Munich roads, and following signs for Umleitung because it sounds like a nice place, unaware it means detour in German.
Kane joining Bayern Munich just before their run of 11 straight Bundesliga titles came to an end also felt like him having taken a wrong turn. But if he ends the season with a Champions League final at Wembley, year one will have been a success.
To make it there, he just has to get the better of arguably the best defender in Europe this season.
The days when Antonio Rudiger couldn’t displace Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen from the heart of Chelsea’s defence are long gone.
He has endeared himself to Real Madrid supporters. Running bolt upright like peak Michael Johnson. Answering a question in an interview — ‘Does it bother you when people say you’re a bit crazy? — by answering: ‘No, because I am’.
Tweaking the nipples, behind the match official’s back, of Alvaro Morata and then Jack Grealish. Telling Madrid keeper Andriy Lunin which way to dive to stop Mateo Kovacic’s penalty in Madrid’s quarter-final shootout at Manchester City.
All this has helped give him something of a cult following among the club’s fans. Rudiger has also been their player of the season behind Jude Bellingham.
He won the Champions League under Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea in 2021. The now-Bayern coach loved him for his personality and his performances.
Carlo Ancelotti has the same appreciation. ‘The best thing about him is that he is a pessimist,’ he says. ‘He always thinks that something bad might happen and so stays very focused.’
Rudiger monstered Erling Haaland over both legs in the last round, and now his challenge is stopping Kane (left).
The England centre forward can move closer to Robert Lewandowski’s record of 41 goals in one season today when Bayern host Eintracht Frankfurt.
Last week’s goal against Union Berlin was Kane’s 33rd in the league and it kept him eight goals ahead of Stuttgart’s Serhou Guirassy in the European Golden Shoe stakes. Breaking that record, winning the Golden Shoe, and getting the better of Real Madrid to reach the final would give Kane the last laugh at those ready to ridicule him for the timing of his switch to Bayern.
Rudiger stands in his way and just as Kyle Walker’s titanic struggle with Vinicius Junior did so much to tip the balance in last season’s semi-final, so the German against Kane could be the defining duel this time.
Barcelona will try to sell Robert Lewandowski this summer.
The club’s wage bill is €200million (£171.3m) over their €204m (£174.6m) limit permitted by La Liga and the 35-year-old has dropped from last season’s 33 goals to 20 this term.
Next year is the last of the Pole’s three-year deal, though he will earn an extra year if he plays 55 per cent of minutes — something the club will avoid at all costs.
Barca’s hopes rest on a Saudi club signing him, but the biggest obstacle to Lewandowski leaving is his desire to see out his contract.
Inter Milan will have an open-top bus parade after tomorrow’s home game against Torino, having sealed the Serie A title with victory in Monday’s Milan derby — and were it not for Xabi Alonso their boss Simone Inzaghi would be manager of the season in Europe.
As a player he was known as the brother of the prolific Filippo. Now it’s Filippo, last seen being sacked by Salernitana in February, who is referred to as ‘Simone’s brother’.
Simone has encyclopaedic knowledge of all his rivals, is tough with his stars when he has to be and is tactically superb — no team plays what looks like a defensive system (3-5-2) so offensively. What will follow now is an almighty dust cloud rising from the scramble below Inter to ensure next year is different.
Juventus are likely to nick Thiago Motta from Bologna and AC Milan want to replace Stefano Pioli, who has lost his last six Milan derbies. But Milan have no director of football to guide chief executive Giorgio Furlani, who has been swept off his feet by the charm of official ‘advisor’ Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Milan are considering Julen Lopetegui and Lille coach Paulo Fonseca — but if Zlatan triumphs as kingmaker then Antonio Conte or Marc van Bommel are more likely.
Bayern announced this week that a bronze statue of Franz Beckenbauer is to be erected outside the stadium to stand alongside the one of Gerd Muller.
The question is: who will be the Bayern coach at the great unveiling in around 18 months?
Ralf Rangnick will replace Thomas Tuchel at the end of the season but there are strong ‘interim’ vibes to his appointment, so don’t rule out it being Xabi Alonso come 2025. Alonso’s bid to become Germany’s first ‘Invincibles’ coach faces a tricky test today at home to Stuttgart.
They are third, three points behind Bayern, and Bayer Leverkusen have their Europa League semi-final first leg at Roma on Thursday.
But Alonso’s team have not conceded a penalty or had a player sent off all season — discipline has been the key to the best defensive record in the Bundesliga.
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