Tuchel insists Kane's injury caused his taken off after slammed for subbing him

Thomas Tuchel has insisted he had to take Harry Kane off against Real Madrid because he was injured.

The Bayern Munich boss was slammed for his call to remove Kane in place of Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting after 85 minutes in the Champions League semi-final.

Bayern were 1-0 up at the time but capitulated, with Joselu scoring two goals in three minutes to knock them out 4-3 on aggregate, and Tuchel took heat for the change.

Owen Hargreaves and Paul Scholes pilloried the call and suggested it cost them the game but Tuchel has now explained why his 44-goal striker had to come off.

'Kane was having back problems. It was no longer possible,' Tuchel told TNT Sports.

'We started with a front four and all four had to go out with injury or cramp. The front four all said they had to go.’

‘It hurts. It’ll take a while to recover, but on the one hand it’s a loss where we left it all out on the pitch.

‘Of course, it’s tough to accept. It’s part of reality. No regrets. But on the other, there were too many injuries, a few too many substitutions, too many cramps.

More to follow.