EURO FILES: Kane's first season at Bayern can still end in glory if win UCL

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.