sport news Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid is a tale of two Englishmen. But who will come out ... trends now
Even Thomas Tuchel couldn’t help himself in the end. He has never favoured the vogue of discussing individuals over the collective, but Jude Bellingham just has that special knack of coaxing half a yard from his opposition.
‘Extraordinary,’ was the summary from Bayern Munich’s manager, which might yet prove to be a case of praising your own executioner in light of this evening’s Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid.
But on went Tuchel: ‘How he has progressed shows his level of personality — it’s only possible with a huge personality. Everyone who plays for Madrid plays with the pressure of the shirt. He handles it like he’s never done anything else. We are well aware of it and will try to find solutions.’
Easier said than done, of course, but solving that riddle is now the task facing Tuchel, whose pursuit of a happy end to a troubled season seems to hinge on his ability to inspire one great Englishman and stifle another.
It would be a somewhat parochial view of the competition’s deepest rivalry to stare at it too much through the lens of Harry Kane and Bellingham. And yet there is also sound justification to look at this magnificent tie in precisely that way.
Harry Kane is bidding to win his first major trophy in this season's Champions League
Kane’s goals have driven Tuchel to within three wins of a glorious rebuttal against an employer that made him a dead man walking back in February.
Whatever the failings that saw Bayern surrender the Bundesliga title for the first time in 11 years, their roots cannot be traced anywhere near a striker who has scored 42 times and counting in his debut season in Germany.
As for Bellingham, he has been central to Real Madrid’s La Liga procession and simultaneously accelerated the conversation around who will succeed Kane as the finest English player of the next generation.
That their trajectories intersect on opposing sides for the first time at the Allianz Arena is a wonderful thing indeed, because they are two stars whose names are bound together. The defining point of that connection will presumably be determined by the strength of their collaboration under Gareth Southgate this summer, but for now it is tantalising to see which of them can cast the greater spell over a two-legged tie.
Real Madrid and Jude bellingham stand in the way of Kane's path to the final at Wembley
Despite 10 years separating them in age, it is brilliantly hard to distinguish whose purple patch is
