Harry Kane insists he will relish the “new pressure” of challenging to win titles every year at Bayern Munich and knows success in Germany can put his name in the Ballon d’Or conversation.
It has been a whirlwind week for the England captain after he departed boyhood club Tottenham on Saturday for an initial £100million fee, which could rise to £120m with add-ons.
Kane made his Bayern debut later that same night in the DFL-Supercup but his wait for a first trophy goes on after RB Leipzig inflicted a 3-0 defeat on the Bundesliga champions.
The 30-year-old is eager to add team success to a host of individual honours on his CV during his time in Munich.
“A lot of people talk about the trophies and why I came here, but ultimately it was to improve,” Kane told Sky Sports.
“To feel a new pressure of having to win titles every year, having to go far in the Champions League and pushing myself to that limit.
“I think if you’re winning games, winning titles, winning Champions Leagues and I’m the one playing up front, it more than likely means I am scoring goals so that allows you to win other individual awards.
“But that all comes from what you achieve as a team. That’s my focus first and foremost and that all starts on Friday.
“We have a long season ahead. A lot of pressure for Bayern Munich to win the league and go far in the Champions League. That is what I am excited to try and challenge myself with.”
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An outstanding 2017 resulted in Kane finishing 10th in the Ballon d’Or list but Spurs have endured a difficult few seasons since they made the Champions League final in 2019.
With Kane aware his chances of winning silverware were reducing at Tottenham, the forward made the decision to leave the north London club after a 19-year association.
He hinted part of the decision to leave Spurs was to play in the Champions League and have no regrets at the end of his career.
Kane added: “If you’re winning your league, winning the Champions League and we obviously have the European Championship next summer as well, I think as we’ve seen with the Ballon d’Or, you have to be winning team trophies to achieve that.
“Yeah, if I am scoring goals and we’re winning trophies then of course that will come into question, but it is not really what my focus is on right now.
“I’ve always said throughout my whole career I never want to retire and feel like I could have done more or pushed myself more. That was a big part of the decision-making coming here.
“I felt like to improve and to get better I had to be playing at the highest level.
“Of course I want to win every competition that I play in, that’s the goal every season but when you finish your career, you want to make sure you pushed yourself to the limits and that’s what I’ll continue to do.”
Bristol City Women 0-4 Man City Women: Hosts relegated as Fowler double inspires WSL leaders
Mary Fowler scored twice to set WSL leaders Manchester City on their way to a 4-0 rout of Bristol City, who suffered relegation as a result, on Sunday.
With Arsenal having drawn with Everton earlier in the day, Man City knew a victory would be enough to take the title race down to two teams.
That victory duly arrived in emphatic fashion, with all four of Man City's goals arriving in the second half.
Fowler's fantastic strike opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with the Australia international doubling her tally soon after, paving the way for an Amy Rodgers own goal and Alex Greenwood's late header to seal a huge victory.
Arsenal are now out of the title race, with Chelsea - who have two games in hand on Gareth Taylor's team - the only side capable of catching Man City.
The Robins, meanwhile, will be playing in the second tier again next term.
Data Debrief: Bristol heading down with a whimper
Bristol City have failed to score in their last five games in the WSL, a run of 544 minutes without a goal.
They mustered just 0.09 expected goals (xG) to Man City's 3.4, with the visitors having now kept a clean sheet in nine of their 20 league games this season.
De Rossi demands more from 'tired' Roma ahead of crunch run
Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.
Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season's Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.
Tammy Abraham's late header secured a point for De Rossi's team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala's penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.
With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.
There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.
"We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted," Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
"At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.
"Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season."
Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso's team.
Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve's Dusan Vlahovic.
PSG's latest Ligue 1 title arrives as Monaco lose to Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain have been crowned as Ligue 1 champions after Lyon overcame Monaco 3-2 on Sunday.
A 4-1 midweek win over Lorient ensured that one more victory would be enough for Luis Enrique's team to get over the line, but PSG failed to get the job done themselves when they faced relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday.
That game was the 700th match of the QSI era at PSG, and the club's 1,900th in France's top flight.
However, PSG's wait to win their third straight title did not last long, as less than 24 hours later, Lyon – who will face the Parisians in the final of the Coupe de France at the end of May – came out on top in a topsy turvy encounter with second-placed Monaco.
Substitute Malick Fofana was the matchwinner for Lyon, and ultimately the player who handed the title to PSG.
Wissam Ben Yedder had put Monaco ahead in the opening minute, but quickfire goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma turned the match on its head before half-time.
Ben Yedder netted his second to restore parity on the hour mark, and thought he had sealed his hat-trick when he volleyed in from a free-kick, only to have strayed offside.
With only a win good enough for Monaco to stay in the fight, the visitors were then caught out in the 84th minute, with Fofana racing onto Lacazette's throughball and finishing calmly.
After a dismal start to the season, relegation looked a real possibility for Lyon, but they are now, with three games remaining, still in with a shout of qualifying for Europe.
PSG on the other hand now have 12 Ligue 1 titles to their name, with 10 of those coming under QSI's ownership. Aside from the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season, five of their last six league titles have been secured before the start of May.
It also means Luis Enrique remains in the running for a treble in his first season at the club, with PSG taking on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals next week.
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