Harry Kane believes Paris Saint-Germain are the leading candidates to win the UEFA Champions League again this season, despite featuring for Bayern Munich among a group of major clubs aiming to lift the trophy.
The draw for this season’s UEFA Champions League takes place today, giving Spanish newspaper Marca the opportunity to ask Kane, the European Golden Shoe winner, who he expects to become champions of the competition.
“I think Paris Saint-Germain are the favourites because they have won the title for two years in a row,” Kane said. “Then, of course, there are other teams such as Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Real Madrid and Barcelona… all the big teams will be there.”
Kane’s backing of Paris Saint-Germain comes after Bayern Munich were narrowly beaten by the French club in last season’s semi-final. The England captain said his team could still take encouragement from their European campaign, despite falling short of reaching the final.
“I think we had a really good campaign in Europe,” he said. “We lost to a great team like Paris Saint-Germain by a very fine margin, so sometimes you have to accept these things and move on.”
The forward also played down the importance of making firm predictions at such an early stage of the tournament. He stressed that Bayern Munich still have a long road ahead before the knockout rounds begin.
“We have only just started,” Kane said. “We are at the foot of the mountain and there is still a long way to go, with many matches coming, eight games in the league phase and, of course, the whole knockout stage after that.”
The new Champions League format includes eight league-phase matches before the competition moves into its knockout stages. Kane said Bayern Munich’s immediate priority was to build on their work from the opening days of the season rather than focus too far ahead.
“From the first day I arrived here, I realised that the other players and the management had returned to work with the same mentality,” he said. “Last season is over, and we will see what happens this season. Now our focus is on continuing to improve, trying to win this season and, of course, the Champions League is one of our main objectives.”
Bayern Munich’s previous European campaign ended against the eventual winners, Paris Saint-Germain, but Kane said the club had already moved on from that disappointment. His comments underline the scale of the challenge facing Bayern Munich, with Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal, Real Madrid and Barcelona all among the leading names expected to compete for the trophy.
Kane, who joined Bayern Munich with the ambition of competing for major honours, will now begin another Champions League campaign with his club as they seek to go further than last season and challenge for European football’s biggest prize.
