Izuchukwu OkosiThree Lions of England captain Harry Kane endured a losing debut with Bayern Munich when his new team crashed to a 3-0 defeat to RB Leipzig in the German Super Cup Saturday night after sealing a move from Tottenham.
Dani Olmo was the star of the show, producing a virtuoso performance and scoring a hat-trick in Munich as Kane’s dream of clinching his first major silverware was shattered.
Kane came on as a 64th-minute substitute with Bayern already trailing 2-0 with Olmo completing his hat-trick soon after.
The England skipper was largely anonymous but earned the sympathy of Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel.
“I’m just sorry for Harry Kane, he probably thinks that we haven’t trained for four weeks,” said Tuchel, who admitted he was at a loss for words for the German Bundesliga champions’ limp performance.
“It’s frightening, unexplainable,” he said.
“It was the case last season and clearly we have completely disintegrated to that frequency again today.”
Record England goalscorer Kane joined from Tottenham for a fee in excess of £94.5m earlier Saturday.
Bayern fans had lined up hours before kick-off to get their “Kane 9” shirts printed at the club store.
Kane, who was given the number nine vacated by Robert Lewandowski, had indicated on social media that he was “feeling good” and “looking forward to the match” after taking part in his first training session as a new Bayern player.
But he couldn’t turn the tide as Leipzig were awarded a penalty three minutes after his introduction.
Olmo converted the spot-kick to seal a first Super Cup title for Marco Rose’s side.
Kane, who has lost three finals with Tottenham and one with England, must wait for his first ever trophy.
Leipzig had earlier stunned the Allianz Arena, taking the lead inside three minutes.
David Raum’s free-kick wasn’t dealt with by Bayern and Olmo calmly stroked the ball beyond Sven Ulreich.
The goal shook the hosts into action and Bayern’s best chances of the first half were crafted by Serge Gnabry and spurned by French teenager Mathys Tel.
The best of them came after a beautiful reverse pass by Gnabry that sent Tel clean through but he could only shoot straight at Leipzig goalkeeper Janis Blaswich.
Things went from bad to worse for Bayern when Olmo scored a fabulous second to double Leipzig’s advantage a couple of minutes before halftime.
The Spaniard’s deft pivot around Bayern defender Matthijs de Ligt allowed him the space to slot it calmly beyond Ulreich.
Kane, 30, has moved to Bayern after two decades at Tottenham where he was constantly thwarted in his bid for trophies.
“I felt like it was the time to leave. I didn’t want to go into the season with a lot of unresolved future talk,” Kane said in a message on social media.
“Obviously a lot of emotions going through me right now; sad to be leaving the club I’ve spent nearly 20 years of my life at, from 11-year-old boy to a 30-year-old man now.
“There’s been so many great moments and special memories, memories that I will cherish forever.”
After protracted negotiations between Bayern and Spurs’ chairman Daniel Levy a deal was finally struck on Thursday.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
Follow Us