Thomas Tuchel: Harry Kane could play in Bayern’s DFB-Pokal clash at Saarbrucken

Bayern Munich boss Thomas Tuchel would not rule out the possibility of playing England captain Harry Kane when the Bavarians travel to Saarbrucken for their DFB-Pokal clash on Wednesday night.

Heavy rains have threatened the second-round contest but for now it is business as usual for Tuchel’s side, coming off Saturday’s 8-0 rout of Darmstadt that saw three red cards handed out in the first half and every goal scored in the second.

Three of those came from Kane, who scored his second hat-trick of the Bundesliga season to make it 12 goals from nine league contests, with some suggesting Wednesday’s meeting with third-division Die Molschder could be a good opportunity to give the 30-year-old a rest.

Tuchel on #FCSFCB:

“We have an extremely important game coming up tomorrow. If we want to reach the final in Berlin, then we have to deliver tomorrow. It’s a knockout game, simple as that.” #packmas pic.twitter.com/I3WhoY89jO

— FC Bayern Munich (@FCBayernEN) October 31, 2023

Tuchel said: “I think especially Harry is one of those that is used to playing a lot, to playing 90 minutes a lot, and will have match fitness throughout that, someone that can be strong in that and play a lot.

“Therefore that decision hasn’t been made yet, to be honest. We have another practice session coming up and we will have to talk to some players that have played a lot recently about how they’re feeling.

“Everyone is wanting to play in that Wednesday and Saturday rhythm, and I think that’s something that we won’t have to focus too much on or make too many thoughts on. It’s always a balance.

“We don’t want to give anyone the feeling that Saturday is going to be more important than tomorrow.”

There were a few fresh concerns for Tuchel on Tuesday, with both Noussair Mazraoui and Jamal Musiala ill and Kingsley Coman twisting his ankle on Saturday.

Saarbrucken’s Saturday league contest against Dynamo Dresden was abandoned at half-time after the referee deemed the pitch unplayable.

Das Spiel ist aufgrund der Unbespielbarkeit des Platzes zur Halbzeit durch Schiedsrichter Arne Aarnink abgebrochen worden.Wir bedanken uns für Euren Besuch! Alle weiteren Infos (Ticketgültigkeit etc.) geben wir in den kommenden Tagen bekannt! pic.twitter.com/l0bpVK4Pv2

— 1. FC Saarbrücken (@ersterfcs) October 29, 2023

Despite concerns rain in Saarland could lead to a postponement, Tuchel said his team were preparing to board a plane on Wednesday morning and brushed aside suggestions a called-off contest could work in their favour, with Bayern set to face title challengers Dortmund in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

He said: “It’s not really a thought. It’s not really a decision that is in my hands. It could be that we travel there and we won’t play and then we would have doubled our problems since we would have to replay the match and have doubled the travel.

“Dortmund are playing at home two games in succession. I think it’s more the travel distance that will be in our bones than the game itself. We will have to see if they decide if we can play or not, and we hope it will be proper conditions as well.”