Bayern’s Kane keen to rekindle London rivalry against Chelsea

Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane said facing English opposition ‘makes me want to play better’ ahead of Wednesday’s home Champions League opener against Chelsea.

Speaking to reporters in Munich on Tuesday, the 32-year-old former Spurs striker said his historic rivalry with Chelsea would add a little more spice to the showdown.

“The rivalry was a good rivalry, especially early in my Tottenham career in the (Mauricio) Pochettino era. We had a lot of good games, tough games against each other,” Kane said.

Kane faced London rivals Chelsea 22 times in all competitions with Tottenham, winning seven times and scoring eight goals, before moving to Bayern in 2023.

The England captain broke through for a maiden team trophy last season when Bayern won the Bundesliga but said he saved extra motivation for English sides.

“I think playing against Premier League opposition there’s always a little more expectation around the game. Maybe the Chelsea fans don’t like me as much and when we play Arsenal, maybe the Arsenal fans don’t like me as much.

“That makes me want to play better, that motivates me. There will be some familiar faces -- all those things added together brings a little something special.”

Kane has scored 93 goals in 101 games in all competitions for Bayern and said he was surprised by his record since moving to Germany.

“I don’t think I expected it. I always back myself to score goals but I didn’t know how it would go.

“The style suits me well. I’ve got a lot of confidence right now and I’m physically and mentally strong.”

This summer, Bayern brought in Luis Diaz and Nicolas Jackson from the Premier League, the latter coming from Wednesday’s oppponents Chelsea.

The duo were two of the few players swimming against a tide of big-money signings moving to England from the Bundesliga.

Bayern coach Vincent Kompany on Tuesday repeated his concern about the imbalance.

“Obviously there’s a big financial gap between the Premier League and other leagues,” Kompany said.

“We have to think about how we solve that one day. The Bundesliga has a lot of talent and English sides have bought a lot of players from here. “But tomorrow is not about Bundesliga versus Premier League.”

Former longtime Bayern president and board member Uli Hoeness did not rate their chances in Europe too highly for this season, saying they were going into the Champions League “like (mid-table German club) Hoffenheim”.

The six-time European champions enjoyed a successful dress rehearsal on Saturday with Kane scoring twice as they dismantled promoted Hamburg SV 5-0 in the league, to make it three wins from three league games this season.

But a reduced squad and failure to sign several transfer targets have left Bayern fans questioning whether their team is competitive enough for Europe’s elite club competition.

“A club like Bayern always expects to win every competition. I wouldn’t say we’re underdogs, even though we’re playing against the best teams in Europe,” Kane told a press conference when asked about Hoeness’ comment.

“Now begins a long journey, hopefully until May. I don’t want to look too far ahead about winning. We want to be as high as possible in the league phase table. It all starts tomorrow,” he said. “We back ourselves to beat any team at the Allianz Arena. We’re feeling very good right now. If we want to beat Chelsea, we have to perform at our peak. It will be a tough and great game. Chelsea did very well at the Club World Cup and right now in the Premier League.”

Bayern have not had much success in Europe since last winning the title in 2020, getting past the quarter-finals only once in the last five seasons.

Coach Kompany said it made little sense to talk about title chances at this stage.

“Let’s see what happens. From our side, everyone is 100% looking forward to this. We want to win the Champions League. That always has to be the goal. I don’t think any Bayern player has a lower goal,” Kompany said.

Agencies