Harry Kane walks into Wednesday night at the Allianz Arena carrying the shortest odds he has ever worn into a game. Five days from the Ballon d’Or at the London Palladium, the Bayern Munich forward is the clear bookmakers’ favourite to become the first Englishman to win the award since Michael Owen in 2001.
The opponents are Arsenal. For the first time in his senior career, in European competition.
Kane never faced the Gunners in Europe across nearly two decades at Tottenham. The two London clubs were simply never drawn against each other on the continent during his Spurs years, and the rivalry stayed inside the Premier League, where he scored 15 goals in 22 appearances against them. His last two games against Arsenal, both as a Spurs player, passed without a goal.
Unbeaten Arsenal walk into Munich
Arsenal arrive in Munich as the best-defended side in the league phase: two wins, two clean sheets, no goals conceded. Mikel Arteta’s team are the reigning Premier League champions and sit among the early tournament favourites.
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Bayern are tenth on four points after a 3-3 draw away to Viking FK and a win at home. Vincent Kompany’s side come into the fixture unbeaten in all competitions this season, having scored 25 goals in their last six games, including a 6-1 win over RB Leipzig on Saturday in which Luis Díaz hit a hat-trick and Kane added a goal and two assists.
Arteta will plan without William Saliba (back), Piero Hincapie (ankle) and Christos Tzolis (hamstring). Kompany is missing Michael Olise, suspended after a red card, and Jamal Musiala, out with a thigh problem. Defender Kim Min-jae is a doubt.
The man who left without the league
Kane’s Tottenham career closed in August 2023 without a major trophy, after nearly two decades in the club’s academy and first team. The move to Munich delivered what north London did not: back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 2024-25 and 2025-26, with the DFB-Pokal added last season.
His 73 goals in 2025-26 for club and country, scored across a Bundesliga season and a run to the World Cup semi-finals with England, are the engine of his Ballon d’Or push. Prediction markets put his probability of winning at roughly 63 per cent, well clear of Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé.
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The Allianz has not been a welcoming venue for Arsenal, who have lost each of their last three visits, and Bayern take a 39-game unbeaten Champions League home run into Wednesday. The ceremony in London is on 26 October.
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