Tribute to Harry Kane? Michael Olise raises questions with unusual goal celebration
Michael Olise appeared to pay tribute to Harry Kane with an unusual goal celebration during Bayern Munich’s 6-1 win over 1. FC Magdeburg. After his second goal, the Frenchman gestured towards the substitutes’ bench, where the Englishman returned the gesture with a smile.
Olise scored twice in the second round of the DFB Cup. He put Bayern Munich 1-0 up in the 10th minute, then made it 3-1 from the penalty spot in the 50th.
Having beaten Magdeburg goalkeeper Dominik Reimann with a coolly executed Panenka, Olise skipped his usual celebration. He ran to the corner flag, crossed himself and beamed from ear to ear, an unusual sight for the normally reserved Frenchman. Then he pointed unmistakably towards the Bayern Munich bench. Kane smiled, returned the gesture and wagged his own finger back and forth. Whether the two had arranged it beforehand, and exactly what it meant, remained unclear on Wednesday.
The moment came during an extraordinary week for both attackers. On Monday, Olise and Kane attended the Ballon d'Or gala in Paris. Olise finished ninth, while Kane won the award ahead of Kylian Mbappe of Real Madrid and Lamine Yamal of Barcelona. Kane became the first Bundesliga player since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1981 to be named world footballer of the year.
At the awards ceremony, Kane was visibly moved. "Wow, wow, wow," said the Englishman on stage before pausing briefly. "I'm almost speechless. Thank you to everyone." The gala taking place in his home city of London made the evening particularly special for him: "Being here in London has made the whole thing something very special. It was a good omen for me tonight."
His voice trembling, the 33-year-old thanked Olise and his team-mates for making his success possible. Videos from the gala show how delighted Olise was for Kane. He even embraced Kane's mother.
Bayern Munich: What illness does Vincent Kompany have?
After an intense previous week featuring matches against Arsenal and SC Freiburg, Kane rested against Magdeburg and watched the entire game from the bench. Alongside Olise, Ismael Saibari (21st minute), Alphonso Davies (70th), Nathaniel Brown (73rd) and David Santos (90+3) scored for Bayern Munich. Sacha Boey replaced Olise in the 67th minute.
Illness again kept Bayern Munich head coach Vincent Kompany away, with assistant coach Aaron Danks deputising. There is good news about the Belgian, however: He has now left hospital, and the exact diagnosis of his illness has been established.
With little time to catch their breath, Bayern Munich face their next big challenge as early as Saturday (6.30pm): the Bundesliga classic against Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund travel to Munich second in the table, level on points.
