Will Thomas Tuchel regret having removed Harry Kane when Bayern Munich lost to Real Madrid? | football news

Bayern Munich suffered a heartbreaking late defeat as Real Madrid booked their place in the Champions League final, but did Thomas Tuchel’s substitutions cost his team?

With Bayern 1-0 up that night and 3-2 on aggregate, Tuchel’s side were set to face local rivals Borussia Dortmund in the final at Wembley on Saturday, June 1, until Joselu scored in the 88th minute and 91.

Even with more than 15 minutes of added time played, Bayern were unable to force extra time, and their chances of doing so were hampered by Tuchel’s decision to replace Kane and Jamal Musiala minutes before Joselu scored.

They were decisions that turned out to be dramatically counterproductive. Bayern’s offensive threat was completely dissipated without Kane and Musiala. In fact, they had a chance after those changes: a shot by Noussair Mazraoui that almost went wide.

Tuchel said after the match that he had to replace all four of his attackers (Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sané were substituted earlier in the game) due to injuries and cramps.

But with so little time left and Bayern just a goal ahead, could Tuchel have asked Kane to hold out for the rest of the match?

Even if he is physically diminished, Kane has 44 goals this season and represents a greater threat than Thomas Muller and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, the forwards with a combined age of 69 who Tuchel called up from the bench.

The England captain had provided the assist for Alphonso Davies’ goal that looked to send Bayern to Wembley, one of two chances he created that night, more than any other Bayern player.

But Tuchel can’t only regret the replacement of Kane. In the 76th minute, Min-Jae Kim entered the field as Bayern switched to a five-man defense.

The defender endured a nightmare first leg, played a role in both of Real’s goals, and was once again at fault for the winning goal, bringing the entire Real team into play when Antonio Rudiger crossed for Joselu.

The case of Tuchel’s defense

Kane could have claimed the assist for Davies’ goal, but that goal was all down to the work done by the winger, who was playing as a winger in place of the injured Gnabry.

In fact, Kane’s pass to Davies was one of four he completed during his entire time on the pitch – comfortably the lowest number among all players who started the game.

The 30-year-old appeared to lose pace for much of the match, missing passes to Sane and Davies in the first half that could have started dangerous counterattacks.

Kane also won less than 50 percent of his duels, with Antonio Rudiger and Nacho stepping in to pinch the ball on several occasions.

Tuchel was clearly not impressed with the way his attackers performed and said after the match: “We were not clinical enough in our counter-attacks; we could have scored if we had been more clinical and calm.”

Kane’s understated performance plays into the narrative that he fails to step up on the biggest stages. It is a fact that, in a Champions League final, a Euro final and two League Cup finals, Kane has failed to score. In fact, Kane has lost all four of those games.

More recently, the striker missed a penalty when England were eliminated from the 2022 World Cup in the quarter-finals by France.

It’s also true that in six career games in the Champions League quarterfinals or beyond, Kane scored twice, both from penalties.

This was Bayern’s entire season, and Tuchel’s Bavarian reign, at stake. With the Bundesliga already lost and the DFB Pokal long gone, the Champions League was the only trophy within Bayern’s reach.

They will now end the season empty-handed for the first time in more than a decade, as their search for a head coach drags on after being rejected by Xabi Alonso, Julian Nagelsmann and Ralf Rangnick.

Even those rejections are unlikely to prompt a radical change from Tuchel, who will leave Bayern with questions about where his career is headed next, while Kane’s wait for his first professional trophy continues.

Tuchel: the attackers were injured or with cramps

Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel said TNT Sports: “We were almost finished, we were almost there. You are never completely sure because it is in Madrid.

“We weren’t clinical enough in our counter-attacks; we could have scored if we had been more clinical and calm.

“Part of the story is that we start with the four forwards and all four players need to go out due to injuries and cramps. It’s too much at that level.

“If you go through in the 88th minute, you’ll see the end of the tunnel. It wasn’t our best game, but we said before that we didn’t need to be perfect, we just needed to be good enough tonight.

“The team has everything, we did it together. Then, with a player injured by cramps, we conceded a goal that we never conceded to our goalkeeper.

“The good situation is that we gave everything. That is the most important thing, then in sport you accept the result.”

When is the 2024 Champions League final?

The final will take place on Saturday 1 June at Wembley between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund and will kick off at 8pm UK time.

Follow live updates on the Sky Sports website and Sky Sports app.

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