Harry Kane vs. Gareth Bale is a fascinating Champions League battle
By Zac Wassink
Harry Kane and Gareth Bale facing off in a Champions League fixture next month will make for a fascinating battle between Tottenham’s past and present.
Comparing athletes in team sports if often a silly exercise, and that is the case as it pertains to Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale. Both Kane and Bale became household names while wearing Tottenham Lilywhite, but their footballing traits and career paths share little in common outside of the fact both once called White Hart Lane home.
Bale, of course, first put world football on notice as a speedy left back capable of torching defenses with blinding pace, but he eventually evolved into a free-flowing attacker capable of taking a match over in a single instant. He rescued points for Spurs multiple times during the 2012-13 campaign, and even passionate Tottenham supporters understood when he completed a much-anticipated move to Real Madrid in September 2013.
Like Bale, Kane needed to physically develop before finding his form in the senior team, but the current Tottenham striker was always destined to find a home up front for Spurs. Kane is deceptively athletic compared to other world-class finishers, but nobody will confuse him for the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic or even Bale. In that way, the 24-year-old Premier League striker stands out among club football’s elite, almost as if he is an anomaly somehow repeatedly defying odds.
Two different footballers with different styles, different skill sets and different backgrounds are headed on a collision course with each other next month. Spurs will travel to sunny Spain for a Champions League showdown with Real on October 17, and that upcoming match will inevitably conjure conversations about how Tottenham’s past compares to the club’s present and future.
Bale realized his dream signing for the Spanish giants, and not just in wearing the kit of the club he adored as a child. The Welsh wonder bagged match-winners in Copa del Rey and Champions League Finals during his first season at Real, he was part of the squad that won the 2016-17 La Liga crown, and he’s hoisted the Champions League trophy each of the past two years. His resume speaks for itself, and it suggests he made the right choice in leaving Tottenham when he did.
Kane, meanwhile, is a back-to-back Premier League Golden Boot winner who has repeatedly claimed he desires to remain at Tottenham despite the club’s lack of trophies during his tenure. Players say things to quiet reporters and silence rumors for periods of time, but Kane’s words seem to carry a certain amount of honesty, almost as if he is tied to Tottenham in a way Bale never was at any point during his Spurs stint.
As hard as it may be for some Tottenham fans to believe, it was roughly seven years ago when Bale put world football on notice via his “Taxi for Maicon” outing against Inter Milan. Kane has won multiple personal honors over the years, but he has not yet produced that type of performance on a European night. No offense to APOEL Nicosia, but bagging a hat-trick versus the side from Cyprus is not the same as dominating one of the world’s best.
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Nobody can see into the future. Both Kane and Bale have history injuries, and it’s possible either or both won’t take the pitch when Real host Tottenham a few weeks down the road. Even if both men start, it’s possible Kane and Bale won’t interact with each other until after the final whistle. Maybe somebody other than Kane in the Spurs squad will embark on a European evening to remember. We just don’t know.
Television executives, journalists and viewers yearn to hype sports storylines, and a club’s former hero playing against it and its current prized commodity will make for interesting hype videos, even if the actual match is a letdown. Just like Bale before him, Kane stepped up when his team needed him Tuesday night. Can the English forward do so again in Spain?