The Supercup in a quick check
Was it the Harry Kane curse that horrified Tuchel so much?
By Till Erdenberger
08/12/2023, 11:38 p.m
Harry Kane is one of the greatest goalscorers of his generation, but the England captain has never won a title. It stays that way for the time being, because he is not allowed to lift a trophy with FC Bayern either – at least for the time being. Thomas Tuchel is appalled.
What actually happened in the Munich stadium?
RB Leipzig clinches the first title of the new season and that is quite surprising: FC Bayern had previously won the Supercup three times in a row, six times in the last seven years. The Saxons won 3-0 (2-0). It’s the first time for cup winners Leipzig. So much for the numbers. But FC Bayern had put a lot of effort into their hands and taken a lot, yes, a huge amount of money, more than any other Bundesliga team and you yourself before, to stage a different story than that of the Supercup that evening : The Allianz Arena was to be the lavishly decorated stage for the debut of Harry Kane, the man they’ve been chasing for weeks and who is worth more than 100,000,000 euros to them.
It would have been a great story too: Harry Kane, this goal machine, six-time top scorer in the Premier League, record goalscorer for the England national team, has never won a title in his eleven years as a Tottenham Hotspur forward. No championship, no cup win. Nothing. “He could win more trophies on his first day than in more than a decade with Spurs,” England football idol Gary Lineker teased in the afternoon. It turned out differently: Harry Kane remains untitled for the time being. And RB Leipzig celebrates.
Teams & Goals
Munich: Ulreich – Pavard (Mazraoui 46), Upamecano, de Ligt (Kim 46), Davies – Laimer (Coman 46), Kimmich (Goretzka 78), L. Sané, Musiala, Gnabry – Tel (Kane 63) Trainer: Tuchel
Leipzig: Blaswich – Henrichs (84th Klostermann), Simakan, Orban, Raum – Seiwald, X. Schlager, Simons (78th Forsberg), Werner (64th Sesko) – Openda (64th Poulsen), Dani Olmo (78th Fabio Carvalho) Trainer: rose
Referee: Marco Fritz (basket)
Gates: 0:1 Olmo (3rd minute), 0:2 Olmo (44th), 0:3 Olmo (68th, hand penalty)
Viewers: 75,000 (sold out)
Yellow cards: Upamecano, Pavard-Olmo
How did Bayern Munich fare without Harry Kane?
It was worth more than 100 million euros and a negotiation spectacle that was nerve-racking up to the last second for FC Bayern Munich to finally fill the gap in the center of the storm after a shocking season for the record champions with a lot of trouble and few titles. Robert Lewandowski left it with his move to Barcelona in the summer of 2022. Now Harry Kane should score the goals. Lots of goals. Thomas Tuchel called Kane’s purchase a “statement”, the most expensive purchase in Bundesliga history should inspire the fans’ imagination. He was already doing that before Kane was even on the pitch: A “What if…?” was the constant companion of Mathys Tel, who was probably allowed to start one last time instead of the new one, and all the others who missed good chances for FC Bayern or sailed just under various crosses.
But the 30-year-old, who only signed his four-year contract last night, was just sitting on the bench. And had to watch as Dani Olmo first dusted off and then scored a magic goal just before half-time. Is that the Kane curse you bring to the club when you sign England’s all-time leading goalscorer? “The RBL rules here” they shouted shortly after half past nine, around 24 hours after Harry Kane’s miraculous arrival in Munich. FC Bayern dominated the game and created opportunities – but caused trouble for coach Thomas Tuchel. “It’s frightening,” said Tuchel after the game. And saw a huge discrepancy between what he had hoped for and what his side were putting on the pitch. In his first reaction to Sky, Tuchel fluctuated between helplessness and horror. He didn’t want to talk about Harry Kane.
How did Harry Kane fare?
Things were going great for Harry Kane as he made his way in to come on as a substitute in the 60th minute. It got loud in the arena, which was considered the home of Bavarian mass ecstasy, very, very loud. The people, not just those responsible for the association, had longed for him. After the substitution, however, the euphoria quickly ended: the new superstar was only a few moments on the field when Dani Olmo scored for the third time. One day after his nerve-racking arrival, Kane only had a handful of actions, most of them with his hands: Again and again he applauded the colleagues who tried to stage him – but didn’t succeed. In the end, Kane and a few colleagues did another lap in the direction of their own fans. It wasn’t a lap of honour.
What was going on there, Thomas Tuchel?
Thomas Tuchel was bewildered when he went to the microphone at Sky. The FC Bayern coach had previously sat on his bench for minutes and only stood up briefly to congratulate RB coach Marco Rose on his victory. The time was too short to bring him back to his composure. Tuchel didn’t feel like banter either, instead he let the spectators look deep into his coach’s soul, which had been battered by the previous minutes: “I don’t have a solution now, I’m shocked and extremely disappointed.” The discrepancy between mood and form before the game and what the team shows on the pitch is “blatant, huge. I don’t recognize anything anymore, neither of what we did in terms of content nor how we last played and trained . The way it’s done and the result is scary. As soon as we have something to lose, it’s not the same group and that’s not good.”
And how did it go for RB Leipzig?
Christopher Nkunku, Dominik Szoboszlai, Konrad Laimer, plus Josko Gvardiol, the most expensive defender in the world: At RB Leipzig, the biggest names are on the departure side. The cup winner was shaken up badly during the summer break, instead of immediately making their way towards the title fight, the Saxons will first have to sort themselves out. FC Bayern assisted surprisingly eagerly on the Supercup self-discovery trip: After less than three minutes, the cup winner, who had absolutely no desire to accompany the Harry Kane show as an extra, was able to celebrate for the first time.
The fact that after 20 minutes audible “Takes off Bayern’s lederhosen” choruses wafted through the stadium was certainly not intended in the script. And then Olmo scored a magic goal and suffocated the brief euphoria after Harry Kane came on with a solid penalty. Olmo is an unlikely hero of the evening as the Spaniard was also heavily courted. He stayed and scored. And hit. And hit. “We’re a cool squad,” defender David Raum had promised, and Xavi Simons, on loan from PSG, in particular, hinted at what the national player meant by the newcomers. In any case, at the big Harry Kane show, it was the people of Leipzig who were enthusiastic and “won in total, deservedly, also at high altitude,” as Leipzig’s sports director Max Eberl said on Sky. “We did well today.”