Thomas Tuchel reveals real reason why he substituted Harry Kane vs Real Madrid

Thomas Tuchel has revealed the real reason why he substituted Harry Kane during Bayern Munich's defeat to Real Madrid.

Real Madrid produced yet another Champions League comeback win for the ages on Wednesday evening, beating Bayern Munich 2-1 to progress to the final for the 18th time.

Bayern led the second leg of the semi-final 1-0 up until the dying moments, but Joselu scored in the 88th and 91st minutes to turn the tie on its head and dump the Bundesliga giants out.

The game ended in controversial circumstances, with Bayern denied a would-be equaliser deep into injury-time by a premature offside flag. VAR could not review the incident as referee Szymon Marciniak had already blown his whistle to stop play.

Bayern manager Thomas Tuchel didn't hold back his fury with the officials after full-time, but came under criticism himself for the substitutions he made as Bayern attempted to defend their slender lead.

With 15 minutes of normal time left to play the German replaced attacker Leroy Sane with defender Kim Min-jae, and with Madrid piling on the pressure, he withdrew both Jamal Musiala and Harry Kane.

The substitutions left Bayern without an outlet to relieve pressure and with no real attacking threat during the 15 minutes of injury-time that followed Madrid's second goal.

Many fans and pundits questioned the wisdom of Tuchel's decisions, but after the game he explained that all three stars were withdrawn due to injury and fatigue.

He then revealed the nature of Kane's injury, which could concern England fans ahead of England's Euro 2024 campaign next month.

"His [Kane] back had gone, he couldn't continue anymore," Tuchel told DAZN.

"The front four all said they had to come off."

During his post-match press conference, Tuchel reiterated that Kane was suffering from "back problems."

Defeat ended Bayern's hopes of winning silverware this season, and means Kane's wait to win a first trophy of his career continues.

Featured Image Credit: Sky Sports/TNT Sports

Topics: Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Champions League, Harry Kane, Thomas Tuchel, Football

Alex Brotherton

Alex Brotherton is a journalist at SPORTbible. He has previously worked with publications including the Manchester Evening News, GOAL and BBC Sport. He is a football fanatic, but also dabbles in tennis and American football. He can often be found watching dreadful non-league football.

@alex_brotherton