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Bayern vs. Madrid means Kane vs. Bellingham

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So you thought that, with Manchester City and Arsenal having been eliminated from the Champions League by Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, English interest in the tournament was over, did you? Well not quite, because this evening at the Allianz Arena, the two European giants who vanquished the last English clubs standing in the competition meet with two very different England players among their ranks.

By Ian King

In terms of age there are nine years and eleven months between Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, but these two are players who come into this fixture from very different footballing backgrounds. Kane is the grizzled old professional nowadays, tempted from the club at which he was considered ‘one of our own’ by the promise of finally adding some silverware to his sensational career-long scoring record. 

That this hasn’t exactly gone according to plan so far could yet be rectified this season, though. Harry’s season will be made, if Bayern could win the Champions League trophy for the first time since 2020. Jude Bellingham isn’t yet at the point of his career at which his choices are unlikely to be considered ‘mercenary’ in any way. He was briefly one of Birmingham City’s own before leaving for Dortmund three years ago, at the age of seventeen. 

That time seems to have been well spent. The promise so obviously evident in the EFL Championship was refined in Germany, his near-innate ability boiled down to the consummate 21st century attacking midfielder before being moved on to the Bernabéu for a substantial profit, three years later.

It says something for the folly of Kane’s decision to stay with Spurs for all those years that Bellingham already has more career trophies under his belt despite having the ten year gap between them. For a player of such immense ability, his ‘Honours’ section remain meagre. 

Kane has been a runner-up four times in his career, in the Euros for England, twice in the Carabao Cup for Spurs and a runners-up place with Spurs in the Champions League. Despite being almost a decade younger, Bellingham has already won the DFB Pokal and the Spanish Supercup, while his team are only a couple of wins from securing his first title in LaLiga.

Perhaps Kane’s mistake can be boiled down to one moment; in the summer of 2018, when he signed a scarcely credible six-year contract with Spurs. It’s understandable that he might have wanted to pledge his commitment to them at that time. They’d finished third and second in the previous two Premier League seasons, and would go on to be a Champions League runner-up the following season. 

But around him, the fate of the club was being thrown into the air by circumstances well beyond his control. Spurs were about to embark upon an epic period of mismanagement, with chairman Daniel Levy retreating to the world of the Celebrity Manager twice, with José Mourinho and Antonio Conte, never of whom had big enough personalities to shake Spurs from their innate Spursiness. By the time he did leave, few Spurs supporters blamed him for doing so.

Bellingham hasn’t had the opportunity to go to a club with a Spursesque reputation for tripping over their clown shoes at inappropriate moments just yet, but that’s a reflection upon the way in which his career options have been maximised to ensure that he rises to the very top. When the time came to leave Birmingham City in 2020 he had two clubs to consider; Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund. Unless you support United, it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that he made the right choice there.

It’s tempting to wonder whether Bellingham may have learned from Kane’s mistakes. His career has been managed with single-mindedness in the direction of getting to the every top of European club football, but also with a clear-sighted plan. Harry’s agent, on the other hand, was his brother. For a while, there was a possibility that Kane would go to Manchester City. Then there was talk about Manchester United, even though jumping to go there from Spurs would have pretty much been the Premier League’s equivalent of jumping from a frying pan into the largest fire imaginable.

As could be seen from his years at Spurs, Harry Kane’s career was always about something other than the accumulation of medals for the sake of collecting medals. Kane may or may not have ended up regretting signing that six-year contract with Spurs (let’s face it, he surely did) but never really spoke out against the club, even when the performance of the club failed to reach the extent that a player of his calibre might reasonably have expected. Bellingham, one gets the feeling, would not put up with that sort of nonsense. 

Perhaps that’s the difference between these two players. Jude Bellingham has grown up around excellence. When England lost to Iceland at Euro 2016, the defeat came the day before his 13th birthday. Kane started that match in the England number nine shirt, but regardless of who wins the Champions League these two players will be together in the England team in Germany this summer for the Euros, and it says something for the quality of their squad that, while England’s clubs may have faltered in this year’s Champions Leagues have faltered, two of their players may still have key roles to play in the ultimate destination of the continent’s most prestigious club cup competition.

(Images from IMAGO)

You can follow every Champions League game live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Bayern vs. Madrid means Kane vs. Bellingham

So you thought that, with Manchester City and Arsenal having been eliminated from the Champions League by Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, English interest in the tournament was over, did you? Well not quite, because this evening at the Allianz Arena, the two European giants who vanquished the last English clubs standing in the competition meet with two very different England players among their ranks.

By Ian King

In terms of age there are nine years and eleven months between Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, but these two are players who come into this fixture from very different footballing backgrounds. Kane is the grizzled old professional nowadays, tempted from the club at which he was considered ‘one of our own’ by the promise of finally adding some silverware to his sensational career-long scoring record. 

That this hasn’t exactly gone according to plan so far could yet be rectified this season, though. Harry’s season will be made, if Bayern could win the Champions League trophy for the first time since 2020. Jude Bellingham isn’t yet at the point of his career at which his choices are unlikely to be considered ‘mercenary’ in any way. He was briefly one of Birmingham City’s own before leaving for Dortmund three years ago, at the age of seventeen. 

That time seems to have been well spent. The promise so obviously evident in the EFL Championship was refined in Germany, his near-innate ability boiled down to the consummate 21st century attacking midfielder before being moved on to the Bernabéu for a substantial profit, three years later.

It says something for the folly of Kane’s decision to stay with Spurs for all those years that Bellingham already has more career trophies under his belt despite having the ten year gap between them. For a player of such immense ability, his ‘Honours’ section remain meagre. 

Kane has been a runner-up four times in his career, in the Euros for England, twice in the Carabao Cup for Spurs and a runners-up place with Spurs in the Champions League. Despite being almost a decade younger, Bellingham has already won the DFB Pokal and the Spanish Supercup, while his team are only a couple of wins from securing his first title in LaLiga.

Perhaps Kane’s mistake can be boiled down to one moment; in the summer of 2018, when he signed a scarcely credible six-year contract with Spurs. It’s understandable that he might have wanted to pledge his commitment to them at that time. They’d finished third and second in the previous two Premier League seasons, and would go on to be a Champions League runner-up the following season. 

But around him, the fate of the club was being thrown into the air by circumstances well beyond his control. Spurs were about to embark upon an epic period of mismanagement, with chairman Daniel Levy retreating to the world of the Celebrity Manager twice, with José Mourinho and Antonio Conte, never of whom had big enough personalities to shake Spurs from their innate Spursiness. By the time he did leave, few Spurs supporters blamed him for doing so.

Bellingham hasn’t had the opportunity to go to a club with a Spursesque reputation for tripping over their clown shoes at inappropriate moments just yet, but that’s a reflection upon the way in which his career options have been maximised to ensure that he rises to the very top. When the time came to leave Birmingham City in 2020 he had two clubs to consider; Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund. Unless you support United, it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that he made the right choice there.

It’s tempting to wonder whether Bellingham may have learned from Kane’s mistakes. His career has been managed with single-mindedness in the direction of getting to the every top of European club football, but also with a clear-sighted plan. Harry’s agent, on the other hand, was his brother. For a while, there was a possibility that Kane would go to Manchester City. Then there was talk about Manchester United, even though jumping to go there from Spurs would have pretty much been the Premier League’s equivalent of jumping from a frying pan into the largest fire imaginable.

As could be seen from his years at Spurs, Harry Kane’s career was always about something other than the accumulation of medals for the sake of collecting medals. Kane may or may not have ended up regretting signing that six-year contract with Spurs (let’s face it, he surely did) but never really spoke out against the club, even when the performance of the club failed to reach the extent that a player of his calibre might reasonably have expected. Bellingham, one gets the feeling, would not put up with that sort of nonsense. 

Perhaps that’s the difference between these two players. Jude Bellingham has grown up around excellence. When England lost to Iceland at Euro 2016, the defeat came the day before his 13th birthday. Kane started that match in the England number nine shirt, but regardless of who wins the Champions League these two players will be together in the England team in Germany this summer for the Euros, and it says something for the quality of their squad that, while England’s clubs may have faltered in this year’s Champions Leagues have faltered, two of their players may still have key roles to play in the ultimate destination of the continent’s most prestigious club cup competition.

(Images from IMAGO)

You can follow every Champions League game live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.