Harry Kane said Bayern Munich “will never give up, will never stop” after scoring a brace to help break a three-match losing streak with a 2-1 win over RB Leipzig.
The win helped Bayern keep eight points behind league leaders Bayer Leverkusen with 11 games to play, after Xabi Alonso’s side beat Mainz by the same scoreline on Friday night.
Bayern are on a run of 11 straight league titles but are in danger of their first title-less season since 2012.
Bayern on Wednesday announced coach Thomas Tuchel would leave the club at the end of the season after the club lost three matches in a row for the first time since 2015.
With England coach Gareth Southgate sitting in the stands, Kane added two goals to his tally. The Three Lions captain now has 27 goals in 23 league games this season since moving from Tottenham in the summer.
Kane, who famously has not won a team trophy despite several individual honours during more than a decade at the top level, told reporters “there’s still a lot of football to be played.”
“We have to push Leverkusen. We need to keep doing what we’re doing.
“It was good to win this game and we need to go on a run until the end of the year.”
Bayern’s barren run has been mirrored by an uncharacteristically poor few games for Kane.
Kane missed several chances in Bayern’s losses to Lazio and Bochum, along with two clear-cut opportunities in the first half against Leipzig.
Tuchel, who admitted after the match he wanted to stay at Bayern beyond the summer, said he was “never worried about Harry”.
“He’s been doing it for 14 years. He whacks in plenty of goals every season and that won’t change. It’s like mathematics.”
“Today he had a good mix between being focused and relaxed. We don’t need to worry about Harry.”
Bayern will need to overturn a 1-0 deficit at home against Lazio in March to progress past the Champions League last 16.
Tuchel said “today felt a bit weird” to sit in the dugout again after the announcement was made but said the “performance was good (like) nothing had changed.”
Bayern captain Manuel Neuer, who produced several important saves, said Tuchel’s departure “put the players in a bad light” and said “every player should have a guilty conscience”.
dwi/nr
