THERE was only one player who was ever going to dig Bayern Munich out of another mess.
Harry Kane maintained his hopes – however slim – of appearing in the Champions League final at Wembley on June 1.
The England captain striker plundered goals number 32 and 33 of the campaign to steer Bayern into the quarter-finals but on this showing, they will still do well to reach the last four.
Kane, now averaging a goal a game in Germany, is world class, unlike the majority of his team-mates. He struck in either half with his goals sandwiching a header from Thomas Muller.
For Kane, it was his first Champions League knock-out goal since Dortmund away, five years to the very day.
Tottenham found their way to the final against all the odds in 2019 and looking at this current Bayern team, it would be even more of a surprise if they end up going all the way.
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Yet with Bayern trailing Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga by 10 points and having been dumped out of the German Cup in November, at least Kane still has something to hold onto.
Unsurprisingly, he was all smiles at the Allianz Arena when the majority of the 75,000 joined in the PA announcer by repeatedly shouting ‘Harry’ after both of his predatory strikes.
Also joining in the celebrations was Eric Dier, who spent the first half of the season being frozen out of the Tottenham team by Ange Postecoglou, but is now impressing in his unlikely spell with Bayern.
In his eighth appearance for the club, Dier played well, albeit against Maurizio Sarri’s limited Lazio side but it was no surprise who eased the nerves for Bayern.
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The tie actually turned in the space of two minutes because had Italian striker Ciro Immobile finished an easy close range header, Bayern would probably have bottled it, like they have done for much of this season.
Soon after, Kane anticipated a mishit shot by Raphael Guerreiro, stuck out his head and steered the ball past Ivan Provedel, who should have done better.
Muller played a part in the build-up to the first goal and then headed the second in first-half injury-time. Although Lazio were hoping for the linesman’s flag, Muller was being played onside by former West Ham midfielder Felipe Anderson.
And from that moment, the pressure lifted from Tuchel’s under-fire team who, despite Dier earning decent reviews in central defence, are still a bit ropey at the back.
Thankfully for Bayern, Lazio are very average and when keeper Provedel spilled Leroy Sane’s shot in the 66th minute, Kane was never going to miss the rebound.
Kane has now scored more goals than last season in 16 fewer games and he looks certain to beat his best ever tally of 41 goals in 2017-18.
So it would even be more heartbreaking for Kane if he still ends up winning nothing.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
