The last time Harry Kane reached this stage of the Champions League he was injured and unable to contribute in the usual way.
With Tottenham trailing Ajax 3-0 on aggregate, Kane walked from his seat in the stands to the dressing room to give a half-time pep talk.
Whether the inspiration came from him or boss Mauricio Pochettino, who was also speaking, or from neither, Lucas Moura responded with a hat-trick.
Spurs went into the final in Madrid with Kane declaring himself fit after a two-month absence. Moura went back to the couch. Liverpool won 2-0.
Heartache for Tottenham, who did not expect to win the Champions League but began to wonder if their name was on the cup.
Harry Kane has had a productive first season at Bayern Munich, scoring 42 goals so far
The England captain was at the double on Saturday as Bayern defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1
Kane ended up on the losing side as Tottenham were defeated by Liverpool in the 2019 final
It wasn’t. That is rarely the case these days.
Five years later, Kane is still waiting for the big trophy, no one will begrudge him after a decade of pure excellence.
For ten consecutive seasons he scored 24 goals or more for his club.
This, his first at Bayern Munich, was his best in terms of goals. He has come to life in Germany, acquiring the efficiency of Gerd Müller and Karlheinz Rummenigge while deployed between a pair of lightning-quick wingers.
Two goals in a 2-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday took him to 400 senior goals for club and country, and to 42 for Bayern for the season, surpassing his previous club best score of 41 for Spurs in 2017/18. .
That was perhaps his best Premier League campaign. The one where Pep Guardiola called them the Harry Kane team, much to Pochettino’s chagrin.
Kane’s goals lifted Tottenham into third place behind the two Manchester clubs, despite staying at Wembley.
He was beaten to the Golden Boot by Mo Salah, who also won the FWA Footballer of the Year award with Kane finishing third behind Kevin De Bruyne, but the England captain was top scorer at the World Cup in Russia.
It still seems remarkable that he won neither the Footballer of the Year nor the PFA Player of the Year, despite scoring more Premier League goals than anyone other than Alan Shearer.
Kane with his Premier League Golden Boot after scoring 23 Spurs goals in 2020-2021
His reliability worked against him. Kane scores again. What’s new? Score again as every team he plays against has a tailor-made plan to stop him. Goals with his head, on the volley, left foot and right foot, tap-ins and screamers. Self-confidence never wavers.
We took him for granted. As a role model and leader, but also as a centre-forward.
FWA members have a tradition of voting for someone who has won the title. Seven of the last nine winners have come from the champions. Only Salah will break the trend in 2018 and 2022.
This year’s winner will be announced this week. Kane cannot win because the award is limited to players playing in England, although the German version of the same award is open to Germans playing abroad and anyone in German football.
Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan won the title last season.
To become German Footballer of the Year, Kane will have to beat the heroes of Bayer Leverkusen, who ended Bayern’s eleven-year Bundesliga domination, still unbeaten with another equalizer in the 97th minute and chasing the German Cup and the Europa League.
Bayer Leverkusen’s brilliance has denied Kane a first league title in his first season
Although there was domestic disappointment over the £86 million, he could still conquer Europe
Trophies will certainly come to Kane at Bayern, despite misfortunes this season.
Like Teddy Sheringham, who left Spurs for Manchester United in 1997 and won nothing in his first year to the amusement of those left behind at White Hart Lane, then went on to win the Treble in his second year.
Kane would prefer to end the wait and get his hands on the Champions League at Wembley in June. That would justify his decision to move to Munich in search of great honors.
For Bayern, it would justify the £86m outlay and they will expect him to lead them to the draw against Real Madrid, although his record at the sharp end of the cup competitions has been disappointing.
He failed to score in three finals for Spurs. In eight semi-final games he scored twice, one of which was a penalty.
There was a winner for England in the Euro 2020 semi-final against Denmark when he converted the rebound from another penalty.
Kane celebrates the goal that took England to the Euro 2020 final after Denmark
Kane helped Bayern beat old foes Arsenal and reach the semi-finals of the Champions League
For all his brilliance and ability to influence results, three goals in fourteen appearances in the semi-finals and finals leave room for improvement.
What a time to change that personal narrative. To lead his team to a Wembley final ahead of the European Championships in Germany. To address the regrets of 2019.
PS England still well represented in the last four
No English clubs in the last four of the Champions League, but five English players (Kane, Eric Dier, Jude Bellingham, Jadon Sancho and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens) have appeared on the same stage as many as last season (Kyle Walker, John Stones, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Fikayo Tomori).
Roma is thriving in the post-Mourinho glow
Daniele de Rossi’s Roma advance to the Europa League semi-finals with the flavor of a team in Jose Mourinho’s golden afterglow.
They possess the best habits of any Mourinho side, well organized and ruthless, but with high-level players freed from the shackles of his tactical demands and his critical eye, and fans energized by the return of a club legend and more extensive football.
There are parallels with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United, who reached a post-Mourinho high with a sudden flurry of goals and that night in Paris.
Roma celebrate one of their goals when they defeated AC Milan in the quarter-finals of the Europa League
Club legend Daniele De Rossi has changed the mood following the departure of Jose Mourinho
There comes a time when this balance shifts and the residual effects of a strong coach fade, and the relaxed mood becomes a problem rather than an asset.
The difficult thing for the new boss is recognizing this moment when it arrives and dealing with it skillfully.
De Rossi seems to be handling it well. The clash with Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen will be one to savour.
Istanbul revisited in Asian final
Asia’s Champions League final has a touch of Istanbul.
Harry Kewell’s Yokohama F Marinos, from Japan and part of the City Football Group, against Hernan Crespo’s Al Ain, not part of the City Group but from Abu Dhabi.
Kewell and Crespo both started the 2005 Champions League final, although both were out by the time Liverpool won the shootout against AC Milan.
Goals but no glory
Golden Boot winners in the EFL all come from the lower reaches of their leagues.
Charlton’s Alfie May won the League One award with 23 goals, finishing 16th.
Macauley Langstaff scored 28 for Notts County, who finished 14th in League Two.
Sammie Szmodics is clear in the Championship with 25 goals while Blackburn languish in 19th place.
Charlton’s Alfie May with his League One Golden Boot award on the final day of the season
Farnham are the invincibles!
Farnham Town, regulars in this section for their performances in the Combined Counties, finished the season unbeaten, beating Tooting and Mitcham on Saturday for their 35th win in 38 games.
Welsh champions TNS can also claim to be Invincibles. Inspiration there for Alonso and Leverkusen.