Harry Kane had one of his key qualities overlooked during his history-making 14-year senior career with Tottenham, Bayern Munich head Vincent Kompany believes.
England captain Kane became Tottenham and the Three Lions’ record scorer before leaving for Bayern in 2023, where he is about to finish the season as the Bundesliga top scorer for a third consecutive campaign and was named Player of the Season in the German top flight for 2024/25.
“He’s like a fine wine that improves with age,” Kompany said of the 32-year-old, who is hoping to add to his 12 goals in this season’s Champions League when Bayern visit Paris Saint-Germain the first leg of the semi-finals on Tuesday.
“People in England saw him as a goalscorer. His finishing and leadership were never underestimated.
“We’ve seen other qualities too, such as his footballing intelligence. We can appreciate that now – it was perhaps somewhat underestimated in England. I also enjoy that aspect of his game.”
Analysis: How Bayern will ‘miss’ Kompany vs PSG
Kompany will not lead Bayern for the first leg because of a suspension and the Belgian said he will not be recreating Jose Mourinho’s ploy of dodging a ban by hiding in a kit basket when his Chelsea team played Die Roten in the 2005 quarter-finals.
“I’m 1.92 metres tall,” explained the Manchester City legend. “I can’t fit in a washing basket.
“I started as a player-manager [at Anderlecht]. Whenever you were injured, you couldn’t be on the touchline. Unfortunately I was often injured, so I’ve got a lot of experience in this area.
“Where am I sitting? Somewhere in the stadium… maybe not too far away from you [reporters].
“Our plans are clear. I know up until which point I can do things and how I can support the team. I’m not there for a part of it. It’s about dealing with it as a team, and we can do that.”
Analysing the squad’s challenge in Kompany’s absence, Kane said it would be “down to us to perform on the pitch”.
“We’ll miss him on the touchline,” admitted Kane, via Bayern’s website. “He’s our boss – a coach who’d love to be out there with us.”
PSG vs Bayern: Champions League holders ‘deserve praise’
Bayern and PSG both impressed with home and away wins in the quarter-finals, the German club outgunning record 15-time champions Real Madrid and the French side outclassing reigning English champions Liverpool.
Each side has 38 goals in this season’s competition, although Bayern have played two fewer games. Kane has four more goals than any player still involved, three behind Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe.
“In my view, the defending champions are fully entitled to claim what they want,” Kompany said when he was asked about PSG’s confident mood.
“We’re fighting for the title that PSG won last year. They deserve every bit of praise. We want what they have.
“We’re hungry… we hope that over the course of these two matches, we’ll prove to be the better team.”
Bayern have already won the Bundesliga. PSG have four top-flight matches remaining and are six points clear of second-placed Lens, who they visit in their penultimate Ligue 1 game of the season.
When is PSG vs Bayern? Champions League semi-finals schedule
All of the semi-final matches start at 20:00 BST.
| Fixture | First Leg | Second Leg |
| PSG vs Bayern Munich | April 28 (Parc des Princes) | May 6 (Allianz Arena) |
| Atletico Madrid vs Arsenal | April 29 (Estadio Metropolitano) | May 5 (Emirates Stadium) |
You can see the full Champions League bracket here.
PSG vs Bayern: TV channel, live online streams
Live TV coverage in the UK is on Amazon Prime Video. Membership is £8.99 per month or £95 per year paid annually, with a half-price offer for fans aged between 18 and 22.
A 30-day free trial is available.
