Stage set for Jude Bellingham v Harry Kane - but will they be picked?

An odd parade of vehicles are promised at the Bernabéu. So eager is the recuperating Harry Kane to push Bayern Munich into the semi-finals of the Champions League, his captain Joshua Kimmich claimed “he’d even play in a wheelchair if he has to”. A decision on Kane’s fitness will be made in the hours before kick-off. Real Madrid, for their part, are ready to dust off what their cheerleaders, with a nod to a luxury German car, like to call their “BMV”, acronym for an attacking trident that is formidable — as long as you can get the starter motor working.

While Kane, recovering from the ankle injury he picked up while training with England, practised with team-mates on Monday and was left in little doubt that, even partially fit, he would be welcomed into Bayern’s plans by his head coach Vincent Kompany, uncertainty lingers over his compatriot, Jude Bellingham. The England midfielder is the B in the BMV, alongside Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior but, as things stand, the likeliest of the trio to be sacrificed should Real’s head coach Álvaro Arbeloa wish to steer his team cautiously into the first leg.

To rush two of his ideal front three back from significant periods of injury carries an element of risk and Mbappé, the Champions League’s leading scorer this season, is further ahead in terms of match-fitness than Bellingham. The France captain played the full 90 minutes of Real Madrid’s dispiriting 2-1 defeat at Real Mallorca at the weekend, knee problems having restricted him to limited outings from the bench for his club over the previous six weeks; Bellingham’s sole action since sustaining a hamstring injury at the beginning of February has been 45 minutes as a substitute spread across two fixtures either side of an inactive international break. “We will be patient with Jude,” Arbeloa said after the player’s discreet half hour in Mallorca.

Arbeloa did add on Monday that Real Madrid with a fully fit Bellingham are stronger than without him, a reassuring fillip for the attacking midfielder, who over the past two months has watched a relatively new coach — Arbeloa replaced Xabi Alonso just after the new year — settle on a new-look quartet for the positions behind the strikers. “With Bellingham on the pitch, we become a better team, I’m sure of that,” he said. “He gives us a lot, with his leadership and his qualities. They’re different qualities from his team-mates and when he’s on the pitch we have to adapt to those, but that’s what football is all about, the relationships between players. It’s a welcome problem to have to find a place for Bellingham in the side.”

There are dilemmas for the Madrid coach. Since Bellingham’s last start, the teenager Thiago Pitarch, with whom Arbeloa was working in the club’s youth section earlier this season, has enjoyed a rapid promotion, in the XI in central midfield for six of the past seven games, including both legs of the last-16 victory over Manchester City. Federico Valverde has returned in style to his preferred midfield role after a spell covering at full back because the two senior specialist right backs, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dani Carvajal, were unfit — both are now available. With Aurélien Tchouaméni locked into the anchor role, any revving up of the full BMV would mean, most likely, demoting Thiago or the Turkey international Arda Guler, who has started all but one of Real’s 12 European games so far.

“I’m delighted to have these great players back and in the squad,” Arbeloa said, all but guaranteeing Mbappé’s presence from the kick-off — “its a blessing to have him”, he said — and welcoming the return to fitness, after a long absence, of Éder Militão, the central defender who marked his comeback with a goal at Mallorca. “It’s our good luck to be able to count on almost everybody and not be picking a team with ten or eleven out injured.” The notable exception is goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, absent with a muscle problem.

Andriy Lunin stands in for Courtois, braced to confront the most prolific attack across the leading leagues of Europe. Bayern registered their 100th Bundesliga goal of 2025-26 on Saturday, the winner in stoppage time to complete a comeback from 2-0 down away to Freiburg. Kane, who missed the trip, has scored 31 of those and is chasing down the Golden Shoe, the prize for the top marksman in European domestic leagues. He also has ten Champions League goals so far.

And he will not be requiring a wheelchair in his attempt to add to that tally and push Bayern a step closer to a possible treble. “He has done everything possible to be in shape,” Bayern’s director of sport Max Eberl said, “including taking part in our final practice session before the game. He’s in Madrid with us and that makes me happy.”

“The important thing is he has been working hard these last few days and I don’t think he’s lost any rhythm,” Kompany said. “But we’ll wait until we have the most up-to-date information [on his fitness] before we make a decision. The most important thing is Harry is available. He knows how important this match is. He also needs to tell us if he is ready.”

Real Madrid v Bayern Munich

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