Harry Kane addresses 'painful' injury which has left him a doubt for Aston Villa clash
Harry Kane believes the foul he was on the end of during Bayern Munich's 1-1 draw with Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen warranted a red card.
The England captain's subsequent injury now means he is in a race against time to ensure he is fit and available to face Aston Villa in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Kane, who has scored 10 goals in seven appearances for Bayern this season, was forced off in the 85th minute of the high-profile clash between Germany's top two clubs after being felled by Leverkusen star Amine Adli, a foul which Kane believes could've merited a sending off.
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He received treatment on the pitch before limping off and being replaced by Thomas Muller for the remainder of the game at the Allianz Arena. He was immediately considered a doubt for the trip back to England to face Villa, in what is the second game for each side in the new format of Europe's premier competition. Kane scored four in a 9-2 win over Dinamo Zagreb in the first round.
He thinks he'll pull through, after being given what Bayern have described as 'intensive' treatment this weekend in the aftermath of the incident, but clearly Kane wasn't happy with the manner of the challenge which might've otherwise prompted the referee to reach for his pocket.
“It’s painful, but I think it’s okay," Kane told Bild, via Sport Witness. "It doesn’t feel that bad. We’ll see over the next few days. We’ve already seen in football last year that cards are given for that, even red cards…but that’s football, we have important games ahead of us, let’s move on.”
Villa are seeking another positive result to back up their excellent 3-0 win over Young Boys in Switzerland in the first round of games, but they'll do so without captain John McGinn, who picked up a hamstring injury in last week's win over Wolves at Villa Park and who is now set for a number of weeks on the sidelines - indeed he is unlikely to feature for Scotland in the forthcoming international break.