‘You cannot take Harry Kane off’ – Pundits query strange Thomas Tuchel substitutions
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting replaced Harry Kane – Reuters/Susana Vera
Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel has been criticised for substituting England captain Harry Kane in the dying moments of their Champions League sem-final loss to Real Madrid.
With Bayern leading 3-2 on aggregate thanks to Alphsonso Davies’ second-half strike, Tuchel made the decision to take off his two star players, Kane and Jamal Musiala, in the 85th minute in place of Thomas Muller and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.
But the bizarre decision backfired as Madrid hit back with two quickfire goals from their own substitute Joselu to turn the tie on its head and send them into the final at Wembley against Borussia Dortmund.
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TNT pundits Owen Hargreaves and Paul Scholes scolded the former Chelsea manager for his decision after suggesting it cost the club a Champions League final.
“I’ll tell you what was unexpected, Harry Kane going off the pitch. That’s one of the biggest subs I’ve ever seen in a game of football of that magnitude,” former Bayern player Hargreaves told TNT Sports.
“To take off a guy that’s scored 44 goals, who is the most durable player pretty much anywhere and you bring on another striker in Choupo-Moting. Maybe he wanted height for corners, I don’t know.
“You cannot take him off. There’s five minutes left in the game, there’s ten minutes of extra-time, 15 minutes. I said to Scholesy straight away, “they’re going to score.”
“That’s one of the biggest calls [I’ve seen]. I love Thomas Tuchel. I don’t know why they made that call. Kim came on ten minutes before that and they were quite comfy. They went from a back four to a back three. Bayern had it in their hands and they let it go. The mistake from Neuer obviously but everybody’s going to be talking about the subs, you cannot take Harry Kane off.”
Thomas Tuchel decided to remove Harry Kane and Jamal Musiala late on – Getty Images/Alexander Hassenstein
Scholes added: “It ended up a game of substitutions. Good ones for Real Madrid. Joselu with the two goals, brilliant. Wins his team the game. Neuer makes a huge mistake which he’ll be disappointed with.
“I thought Tuchel’s substitutions were strange. Kane was strange. Even if they get one goal, there’s still extra-time, penalties to come as well, you know how strong he is.
“Kim was the stranger one. I thought they looked quite comfortable in the game up until that point. They go to three at the back. Kim coming off last week was a disaster for him and again he looked a little bit all over the place.”
Tuchel later defended his decision by explaining Kane was struggling with an injury and wanted to protect him.
“Kane was having back problems. It was no longer possible,” Tuchel explained.
“We started with a front four and all four had to go out with injury or cramp. The front four all said they had to go.’
“It hurts. It’ll take a while to recover, but on the one hand it’s a loss where we left it all out on the pitch.
“Of course, it’s tough to accept. It’s part of reality. No regrets. But on the other hand, there were too many injuries, a few too many substitutions, too many cramps.”
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