After Harry Kane’s three final heartbreaks with Tottenham and England his first major trophy win, the Bundesliga title we originally thought to be immediately inevitable, was on reflection never going to be straightforward. Last week’s yellow card against Augsburg kept him in the stands for Bayern Munich’s potential title clincher at RB Leipzig (a visibly annoyed Kane suggested referee Bastian Dankert had been “trying to make a name for himself” after the harsh booking, issued when he didn’t return the ball quickly enough after he was whistled for a foul). Then Yusuf Poulsen’s 95th-minute equaliser for the hosts meant Bayern weren’t quite there mathematically, even though Thomas Müller felt comfortable enough to lead the players and a trench-coated Kane through some frolics with the away fans on Saturday. Leverkusen only drawing at Freiburg on Sunday has, at last, finally sealed the deal. Kane’s Bayern destiny has been fulfilled, and no apparent jinx could get in the way this time.
On the day he signed in August 2023 Munich was balmy, in terms of weather and mood. It was the morning of Bayern’s DFL-Supercup game against RB Leipzig and as the thermometers crept above 30C, hot and bothered fans queued outside the multiple Bayern fan shops in the city centre with the aim of getting their hands on one item: the new, white-with-red-trim home jersey with “Kane 9” on the back. The red-on-white, multi-lined font of name and number – a throwback to the figures adorning the backs of Bayern’s 1974 European Cup winners – hinted at a new era of glory.
