Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany has confirmed the availability of English forward Harry Kane ahead of their final game of the year before the mid-season Bundesliga break, Afrosport reports.
Kane sustained a hamstring tear in Bayern’s 1-1 at Borussia Dortmund on 30 November, and albeit returning to individual training days later, the England international has not featured for the Bavarians since.
Bayern, who will enter the mid-season break as Bundesliga leaders, are just four points clear in the standings with 33 points, and they host fourth-placed RB Leipzig at Allianz Arena on Saturday.
While speaking at his pre-match conference, Kompany remained coy on whether the 31-year-old would play any part against Leipzig.
“I won’t say whether he’ll start or not,” said Kompany. “The final training session is still important today. If everything goes well, he’ll definitely play a part tomorrow.”
Harry Kane completed the entire training session today and should be able to start against Leipzig on Friday. Alphonso Davies, meanwhile, trained with the team for 70 minutes and has good chances of being available against Leipzig [@BILD] pic.twitter.com/rNx8JDw2xe
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) December 17, 2024
Bayern lost two of the four games Kane missed since his hamstring injury, including a 1-0 home loss to Bayer Leverkusen in the German Cup round of 16 and a 2-1 defeat at Mainz last Saturday.
Kane has scored 20 goals and provided nine assists in 19 games in all competitions this season for the Bundesliga leaders, including 14 goals in 12 league matches, and Kompany added that the former Tottenham striker is hard to replace.
“We said previously that we couldn’t replace Harry Kane like-for-like. Harry has this incredible sense of where he needs to be in the box,” Kompany said.
“He’s also helped us a lot in defence. He’s one of the best in the world in the box – that’s where he makes the difference.”
📌 𝗡𝗘𝗫𝗧 𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛 = 𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗧 𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛 𝗢𝗙 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰!
Let’s end our year on a high vs Leipzig! 👊#FCBRBL #FCBayern #MiaSanMia pic.twitter.com/CjFWp7CzOe
— FC Bayern (@FCBayernEN) December 15, 2024
Bayern Munich suffered their first defeat in the Bundesliga this season against Mainz, and the Bavarians, who have won 10 of their 14 league matches this campaign, will be looking to increase their lead at the top of the standings before the customary two-week break.
