• Rangnick had been expected to take Bayern job after Euro 2024
• ‘I am national team coach of Austria with all my heart’

Ralf Rangnick will not take over at Bayern Munich next season but will remain in his role as Austria’s head coach after Euro 2024.

Rangnick confirmed last week that Bayern had been in touch in their search for a successor to Thomas Tuchel, and German media had reported a deal was imminent.

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Leading players have not been at their usual club levels since going to the Asian Cup or Africa Cup of Nations

On Thursday night Son Heung-min will lead Tottenham out against Chelsea for a game vital to the north London club’s chances of finishing in the top four and securing Champions League football. Had the Spurs captain not headed to the Asian Cup in the middle of the season, it is possible his club would be closer to the promised land, not just because Ange Postecolgou would have had his top scorer available for those few weeks but also because the forward might well have been in better condition in the time since.

In England the discourse around mid-season continental tournaments focuses on the inconvenience for clubs as players head to Asia or Africa. Less is said about the physical and mental effect on those involved. Mohamed Salah, Jürgen Klopp and Liverpool must wish that the Egyptian had never reported for Africa Cup of Nations duty in January given the injury sustained and the loss of form since.

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Tuchel is leaving and Rangnick likely to come in, with several Red Bull alumni already in place amid disquiet among fans

There is always something now. There is always something later. Even as the sweat was drying on Bayern Munich’s 2-2 draw against Real Madrid on Tuesday night, thoughts were beginning to turn, with alarming speed, to new plans and new eras. While the outgoing Thomas Tuchel dissected the performances of Kim Min-jae and Leroy Sané in the broadcast zone, the top brass were a few yards away discussing his likely successor: Bayern’s present, and future, and soon-to-be past, all gauchely colliding against each other in one big hot mess.

The deal with Ralf Rangnick is not quite done at the time of writing, but by all accounts imminent. Rangnick is said to be keen, a three-year contract is waiting to be signed, and a seven-figure compensation deal with the Austrian Football Association, where Rangnick is contracted as national team coach, should be a formality. “We all know that Ralf Rangnick is a good coach and has achieved a lot in his career,” the sporting director, Christoph Freund, said. “If everything fits, then it will be done.”

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Having played under Benítez, Mourinho and Guardiola, the Spaniard has given his players a structure and identity

Football is, fortunately, a game. Victory and defeat are sometimes decided by chance. When the best of the best meet, I reckon it’s 20%. The draw increases the luck factor even more. That’s nice: it makes new winners possible.

It brought Manchester City and Real Madrid together in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, the most spectacular clash in European football for three years. Once again, it kept all its promises and thrilled with intensity and great goals. In the second leg , Carlo Ancelotti had everyone defend and said it was the only way Real had a chance. The penalty shootout was decided by psychology.

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• Bellingham taken off with fatigue and cramp in second half
• Ancelotti: ‘He was just tired. He will get back to his best’

Carlo Ancelotti admitted that Jude Bellingham was “not at his best” in the first leg of Real Madrid’s Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich , but backed him to come good in the return game at the Bernabéu next week.

Ancelotti revealed that Bellingham was suffering from cramp and fatigue during the game, a problem that has often afflicted him in the past, and one that led to his substitution here after 75 minutes.

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These are Real Madrid’s principles, and if you don’t like them … well, they have others. Carlo Ancelotti’s side were pummelled by Bayern Munich for long periods here, run left and right, hassled and jostled and almost toppled. And yet – of course – here they are, still standing, even marginal favourites courtesy of the magical right boot of Vinícius Júnior.

Vinícius’s late penalty salvaged a game that Thomas Tuchel and Bayern had threatened to snatch in four riotous second-half minutes. Tuchel’s half-time substitution stretched the game, changed the game, shook out two well-deserved goals by Harry Kane and the wonderful Leroy Sané to cancel Vinícius’s early strike. As the Bayern coach prepares to take his leave, this was a reminder that there are few better coaches in the world at the bespoke gameplan for the big occasion .

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• Champions League semi-final updates, 8pm BST kick-off
• Live scoreboard | Read Football Daily | And you can mail Scott

Bayern Munich: Neuer, Kimmich, Kim, Dier, Mazraoui, Laimer, Goretzka, Sane, Muller, Musiala, Kane.
Subs: Upamecano, Gnabry, Choupo-Moting, Zaragoza, Peretz, Davies, Guerreiro, Ulreich, Tel, Pavlovic.

Real Madrid: Lunin, Lucas, Rudiger, Nacho, Mendy, Valverde, Tchouameni, Kroos, Bellingham, Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior.
Subs: Courtois, Eder Militao, Modric, Camavinga, Joselu, Ceballos, Garcia, Diaz, Guler, Arrizabalaga.

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While Harry Kane has navigated his career like he always has another season, his England teammate plays like this is his last

There were a few tourists from Madrid taking selfies outside the Allianz Arena on Monday lunchtime and, as footballing pilgrimages go, this is one you really have to want. Wedged between two major road junctions and approached either through a concrete jungle of slip roads or a 40-minute schlep on the train followed by a long trudge past a sewage treatment plant, perhaps the nicest thing you can say about the location of Bayern Munich’s stadium is that it at least offers easy access to everywhere else.

How many times will Harry Kane have to peer at this stadium through blacked-out windows before it begins to feel like home? The language will take years to master, if he ever manages it. The Allianz does not feel like a part of Munich in the way that the Estadio Bernabéu looms above Madrid or the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium dominates the High Road. And, of course, his name has already been made at the boyhood club that still has a buy-back clause for him. However long he stays at Bayern, on some level home will always be somewhere else.

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• Harry Kane scores twice to take total to career-best 42 goals
• Borussia Dortmund take bruising 4-1 defeat to RB Leipzig

Harry Kane scored once in either half to guide Bayern Munich to a 2-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday and a welcome boost before Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg against Real Madrid.

The Bavarians, who saw Bayer Leverkusen end their 11-year-Bundesliga reign by securing the league crown two weeks ago, have only the Champions League left to fight for with departing coach Thomas Tuchel eager to leave on a high note.

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