Tale of 2 Englishmen: Who'll stand out when Bayern Kane meets RM Bellingham

Even Thomas Tuchel couldn’t help himself in the end. He has never favoured the vogue of discussing individuals over the collective, but Jude Bellingham just has that special knack of coaxing half a yard from his opposition.

‘Extraordinary,’ was the summary from Bayern Munich’s manager, which might yet prove to be a case of praising your own executioner in light of this evening’s Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid.

But on went Tuchel: ‘How he has progressed shows his level of personality — it’s only possible with a huge personality. Everyone who plays for Madrid plays with the pressure of the shirt. He handles it like he’s never done anything else. We are well aware of it and will try to find solutions.’

Easier said than done, of course, but solving that riddle is now the task facing Tuchel, whose pursuit of a happy end to a troubled season seems to hinge on his ability to inspire one great Englishman and stifle another.

It would be a somewhat parochial view of the competition’s deepest rivalry to stare at it too much through the lens of Harry Kane and Bellingham. And yet there is also sound justification to look at this magnificent tie in precisely that way.

Kane’s goals have driven Tuchel to within three wins of a glorious rebuttal against an employer that made him a dead man walking back in February.

Whatever the failings that saw Bayern surrender the Bundesliga title for the first time in 11 years, their roots cannot be traced anywhere near a striker who has scored 42 times and counting in his debut season in Germany.

As for Bellingham, he has been central to Real Madrid’s La Liga procession and simultaneously accelerated the conversation around who will succeed Kane as the finest English player of the next