Harry Kane has 'burning fire' to win Champions League with Bayern after Tottenham heartbreak

Harry Kane has a “burning fire” inside him to win the Champions League after suffering heartbreak in the final with Tottenham five years ago.

Kane has led Bayern Munich to the quarter-finals of this year’s competition and will face Arsenal in the second leg at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night.

The tie is finely poised after the two sides drew 2-2 in London last week and Kane is determined to go all the way.

The striker, who reached the final with Spurs back in 2019 only to be defeated by Liverpool 2-0 in Madrid, said: “Whenever you reach the final of a competition and don’t quite get over the line there’s always that burning fire inside you to get back there and go that one step further.

“We have an opportunity this year with a big moment tomorrow and if we can take that step tomorrow night, then we’re only a couple of games away from trying to get to Wembley.

“It’s still in the distance at the moment, it may come around quick, but all my focus is on tomorrow. All I can do is put in my best performance, help the team’s best performance, and then step by step we can try and reach our goals.”

Kane scored in last week’s first leg in north London, taking his tally of goals against Arsenal to 15 in 20 games. The striker was continually the Gunners’ nemesis during his time at Spurs, scoring a record 14 goals in north London derbies.

Kane was released by Arsenal when he was nine years old and, while he has moved on from the rejection, he admits it is in his “DNA” to prove people wrong.

“I think (the north London derby) was one of the biggest games of the season for pretty much my whole career,” said Kane. “We played them at least twice a year for the last 10 years and it was always a big occasion, big moment.

“Maybe it was in the back of the mind, being released from a young age, and there’s always a point to prove – I’m the type of player who, throughout my career, has had points to prove along the way, I don’t think that ever leaves you, I think it’ll always be in my DNA until I retire.

“There’ll always be a reason to prove someone wrong or to prove to myself I can do something. So I don’t think specifically back to that and think: ‘I was released when I was nine years old, I really have to make a difference tomorrow’.

“Now I’m here at Bayern Munich it’s just about being a top team in the Champions League. Of course, I have history with (Arsenal), but all I can do is try and help Bayern Munich qualify for the semi-final of the Champions League.”