2024-09-18 13:35:02
MUNICH — Harry Kane scored four times on Tuesday to bring his Champions League goal total to 33, blowing past the previous record of 30 set by Wayne Rooney for the most goals by an English player in the competition.
It was all part of a record night for the striker and Bayern Munich, as they cruised to a 9-2 rout of Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb in the first round of games in the new-look Champions League format.
The nine goals for Bayern were also the most ever in a Champions League game by a single team, and Kane had another European record to his credit with three of his goals coming from the penalty spot.
“Amazing game, a bit of a crazy game for sure,” Kane told broadcaster DAZN. “To score all those goals in the end was a great night.
“To be honest, after the second [penalty] I didn’t really know what to do with the third one, but thankfully I was able to put it away.”
Kane opened the scoring from the penalty spot to give Bayern the lead and equal Rooney’s mark for an Englishman. He scored his 31st on a rebound to pass Rooney and added two more from the penalty spot to take his Champions League tally to 12 goals since moving to Bayern a year ago.
“He is motivated and for me as a coach it is easier because if you have a top player who is himself so motivated it makes things so much easier,” said Bayern manager Vincent Kompany after the match. “He is a leader, captain of the national team. Players like him, they know they have to rise at these moments and that is what he is doing.”
Raphael Guerreiro, Michael Olise, Leroy Sane and Leon Goretzka piled on the goals for Bayern to hit the record haul of nine in a single Champions League game, while Bruno Petkovic and Takuya Ogiwara each scored to get the visitors on the scoresheet.
Kane now has 53 goals in 50 games in all competitions since moving to Bayern and has scored nine goals in his past three games for club and country, including two for England against Finland in his 100th international game and a hat trick Saturday for Bayern against Holstein Kiel in the Bundesliga.
Another record was broken when Thomas Müller came off the bench to play his 152nd Champions League game for Bayern. That’s the most for a player for one club, breaking a tie with former Barcelona player Xavi Hernandez.
Despite the lopsided win, it was not all praise from Kompany, who saw his team lead 3-0 at half-time but concede two goals in two minutes shortly after the restart as the Croats tried to find a way back.
“We scored nine but we conceded two goals. We conceded those goals because we were a step too late. Still we stayed calmed and then had a good evening,” said the Belgian.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.
