7 hours ago
Harry Kane's warning from opponent who's 'going to crush him' speaks volumes
Harry Kane could come face to face with the defender who threatened to "crush him" when Bayern Munich face Boca Juniors at the Club World Cup in the United States
Harry Kane is on a collision course with a defender who jokingly threatened to 'crush him'. After thrashing New Zealand part-timers Auckland City 10-0 in their opening game at the FIFA Club World Cup, Kane's Bayern Munich will face a much sterner test against Argentine giants Boca Juniors in Miami, with their clash coming in the early hours of Saturday morning for UK viewers (2am).
Victory will secure the German champions' passage into the knockout stage of the tournament with a group game to spare.
But they will face a pumped-up Boca side, who are relishing testing themselves against one of Europe's best sides at the tournament, which boasts an overall prize fund of £787million, with £97million going to the winners.
Part of their squad is young defender Lautaro Di Lollo, who made some eye-catching comments about Kane when he appeared on a chat show in Argentina earlier this year. Di Lollo was initially respectful of Kane, saying: ' Harry Kane is a great player at world level, but we are going to give our best.'
At the end of the interview, on TyC Sports' Paso a Paso show, he was asked: "Who heads better? You or Kane?" A smiling Di Lollo cheekily replied: 'I'll crush him.'
It remains to be seen whether Kane and Di Lollo will be on the pitch at the same time. While the 21-year-old is in Boca's tournament squad, he wasn't involved in their 2-2 draw with Benfica in their Group C opener.
Meanwhile, Kane has shown his respect to one of the biggest clubs in South American football. Asked specifically about facing Boca, the England captain said: 'It will be special. I think it will be one of the standout matches of the entire group stage and indeed of the whole tournament."
Kane surprisingly failed to find the net during Bayern's rout of Auckland, who were 6-0 down at half-time. Jamal Musiala hit a hat-trick while there were braces from Kingsley Coman and Michael Olise, plus strikes from Sacha Boey and Thomas Muller.
Kane will be looking to score his first goals of the tournament in front of Boca's passionate supporters, who will be out in force at the Hard Rock Stadium.
Speaking ahead of the match, he said: 'The Boca fans are obviously loud and they're passionate.
'A big part of their game is to have the fans behind them, to use them as the energy and to take them into tackles and to battle. Their fans are going to be passionate.
'They're going to be trying to push their team to win the game. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to the atmosphere. You know, sometimes it brings out the best in you as a player.
'It's going to be heated, it's going to be hot, it's going to be a physical game. And they have some quality players as well, so we need to be ready for that. We have to be ready for the battle."
Following their draw with Benfica, any kind of result against Bayern will be welcomed by Boca ahead of the clash with group whipping boys Auckland on Tuesday.
