Harry Kane says he is in for the ride with Bayern Munich as his hunt for the first major trophy of his career continues after scoring his eighth Champions League goal this season in their 2-2 draw with Real Madrid in the first leg semifinal tie.
Vinicius Jr scored in the 24th minute to give Real the lead in the first half but the hosts scored twice in four minutes early in the second half through a Leroy Sane strike and Kane penalty, before Vinicius’ spot kick held Bayern to a 2-2 draw on Tuesday.
The English striker, who joined Bayern from Tottenham Hotspur for around 87 million pounds ($108.52 million) in August last year, scored his 43rd goal in 43 games for the German side this season.
Bayer Leverkusen halted Bayern’s run of 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles and the Bavarians were eliminated from the German Cup but despite these setbacks, Bayern still have a shot at the Champions League trophy.
“Everything we’re fighting for this year is in this competition,” Kane told reporters. “It’ll be tough. We have to go (to the Bernabeu for the second leg) with full belief.
“These are the big games. The atmosphere was incredible. This is exactly why I came here. I want to be playing in these big games, these big moments.
“I’m here for many years. It’s not a one-off year I’m here for. Of course at the start of the season the expectation was to win trophies. The Champions League is the biggest one. If we can somehow get our hands on that one, it would be an amazing season.”
Meanwhile, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti was disappointed with his players’ attitude, calling them “soft” for defending too deep in their 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich.
Ancelotti was critical of his team’s commitment after Vinicius Jr’s first-half goal gave them the lead as Bayern struck twice in four minutes early in the second half to turn the game around before Vinicius equalised from the penalty spot.
“The result is good but on a level of play we could have done better. Bayern showed their best version and we didn’t. We have to improve for next week,” an introspective Ancelotti told Movistar Plus+.
“In the first half we defended but with little intensity, in the second half when they took the lead we started to press a bit more, but not enough.
“The feeling was that we were comfortable, but we lacked intensity. We gave them too many chances to take control of the game. We didn’t want to play in a low block and we went on doing that. We were soft.”
Ancelotti defended his decision to substitute midfielder Toni Kroos, who set up Vinicius’ opener with a brilliant pass and was arguably Real’s best player.
The Italian said that he made four substitutions in an effort to shake his team up and was relieved that they ended up scoring the equaliser that he believes “left the tie open” for the return leg in Madrid next week.
“Jude Bellingham had a cramp, Toni Kroos played a spectacular game but the plan was to try to recover the control of the game by putting fresh legs in,” Ancelotti told a press conference.
“As always, at this point in the season we have a great opportunity to play in another final. It’s an even tie against a great team. It will be another 90 minutes of suffering but in an atmosphere that we know quite well. The fans are going to help us.”
Bayern travel to Madrid for the return leg on May 8.