Vincent Kompany believes that Bayern Munich talisman Harry Kane has got better with age after he helped them ease into the Champions League quarter-finals.
Kane opened the scoring in the 52nd minute of their round of 16 second leg tie with Bayer Leverkusen before setting up Alphonso Davies to seal a 5-0 aggregate win.
He has now been directly involved in 24 goals in 23 Champions League appearances for Bayern (18 goals, six assists), the most of any player since the start of last term.
Kane is just the second Englishman to have been involved in 50+ goals in the competition (39 goals, 11 assists), along with David Beckham (52 – 16 goals, 36 assists).
The England captain’s second-half strike was also his 10th goal of the competition, becoming the first ever English player to reach double figures in a single edition of the European Cup or Champions League.
The 31-year-old now has 32 goals and 11 assists in 36 appearances across all competitions, earning praise from Kompany following the full-time whistle.
“It helps when you have a top player who wants to run and fight for the team like a youth player,” Kompany said of Kane at the post-match press conference.
“I played against him as an opponent, and he has become better with age. He has a way to work towards his performances.
“I trust his consistency and how he works towards his game and with that quality you always get your moments.”
10 – Harry Kane is the first ever English player to score 10 goals in a single European Cup/UEFA Champions League campaign. Exceptional. pic.twitter.com/46kSk1882R
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 11, 2025
Kane, who also scored twice in the first leg against Leverkusen, helped seal a quarter-final date against Serie A leaders Inter, who beat Feyenoord on Tuesday.
“A big compliment to the lads who delivered this performance,” Kompany said. “These two wins over Leverkusen are important for us.”
Prior to last week’s first-leg win, Bayern had failed to beat reigning Bundesliga champions Leverkusen in their previous six matches across all competitions.
Leverkusen also eliminated Bayern in the DFB-Pokal, but Kompany’s side responded in emphatic fashion with a dominant aggregate victory.
Indeed, their 5-0 aggregate win was the biggest in an all-German tie in the knockout stages of a European competition since 1998-99, when Bayern themselves won 6-0 in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League against Kaiserslautern (2-0 at home, 4-0 away).
It was also Leverkusen’s heaviest defeat to nil on aggregate in a European knockout stage tie. Only against Barcelona in 2011-12 have they been beaten by a bigger overall margin in the knockout stages of a European competition (2-10 on aggregate in the Champions League last 16).
“These two wins, they don’t decide the season, but we have a lot of respect for Leverkusen. We did our work,” Kompany said.
“We did it well in the first 20 minutes and had the better chances. Our aim was to win the first half and then to win the second half, and we did that.”
