‘Felt sorry for him’ - Harry Kane slander from German media branded ‘totally unfair’ as Bayern Munich forward ‘got no service’ in Bayer Leverkusen

Bayern were outplayed in a 3-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen at the weekend and the 30-year-old came under fire for his performance. The striker was slammed for being unable to perform in a crunch clash between the first and second-placed sides in the Bundesliga. However, the former Tottenham man has been defended by sections of the English media, who point out he is still the division's top scorer and his team-mates underperformed against Xabi Alonso's men.

On the Daily Mail's 'It's All Kicking Off' podcast, football editor Ian Ladyman said: "One headline read 'The Kane disaster' while (German publication) Bild described his performance as catastrophic. He's seven goals clear at the top of the Bundesliga scoring charts."

The paper's racing correspondent, Dominic King, added: "Totally, totally unfair! There were so many people over the pitch that were miserable. Eric Dier looked absolutely bereft of confidence and unsure and Harry Kane got no service, I think he touched the ball 17-18 times. I felt sorry for him. What a story this would be if he'd gone to the club where he thought he would be guaranteed medals and then ends up winning nothing this year."

As King pointed out, Bayern are in danger of not winning any trophies this season. They are five points behind leaders Leverkusen, fell in round two of the DFB-Pokal cup, and are outsiders to win the Champions League. This could be the worse season for the Bavarians since 2010/11 when they only won the DFL-Supercup, which is a one-off match at the start of the campaign.

Bayern return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Lazio in the first leg of a two-legged last 16 tie in the Champions League. They return to playing in the Bundesliga on Saturday at home to RB Leipzig.