Bayern's Kane to miss Gladbach game but could return v Atalanta — and more

Bayern Munich will be without star striker Harry Kane for the first time in the Bundesliga this season on Friday but coach Vincent Kompany expects him to return for the Champions League next week.

Kompany said that league top scorer Kane would miss the game against Borussia Mönchengladbach with a calf problem which he however considers not to be too serious.

Harry Kane is out. He got a knock on his calf and hasn't recovered yet. It's just a knock, it's nothing serious for the time being, but we'd need maybe another a day for him to be involved," Kompany told a news conference on Thursday.

"Of course we would have liked Harry to be involved, but these things happen."

Kane has scored 30 Bundesliga goals this season, including a brace in each of his last four games. He is chasing Robert Lewandowski's league record 41 season goals and due to missing Friday's game will have nine games left to reach it.

Kompany said he doesn't expect Kane to miss Tuesday's Champions League last 16 first leg match at Italy's Atalanta as well.

"I don't think so. You can see my body language, I am pretty relaxed," Kompany said.

The coach added that Kane's absence opens the door for others to shine on Friday.

"The lads who are involved tomorrow against Gladbach are really looking forward to it. If Harry isn't involved, some of the lads are hoping they can get their moment," he said.

Defenders Hiroki Ito and Alphonso Davies are also out but captain and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer returns from a calf muscle injury, with Kompany simply saying: "He is fit."

The Iran women's football team sang and saluted their national anthem before their Women's Asian Cup match against Australia on Thursday, a marked shift from their silent protest ahead of their opening game.

This earlier silence, observed before Monday's loss to South Korea, had been widely interpreted as either an act of defiance against the regime or a gesture of mourning for those affected by ongoing conflicts.

The team, however, offered no official clarification for their initial stance.

In a poignant press conference preceding the Australia fixture, Iranian striker Sara Didar became visibly emotional.

She shared the profound concerns held by both players and management for the safety and well-being of their families and loved ones amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

The 21-year-old Didar was a substitute for Thursday's game, which was played in pouring rain on the Gold Coast, where Iran is scheduled to compete in all three of its Group A matches.

The Iranian squad had arrived in Australia well before the recent strikes by Israel and the United States on Iran last Saturday, adding another layer of tension to their presence.

This fluctuating approach to the national anthem mirrors a similar situation involving the Iranian men’s team during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The men's squad notably refrained from singing their anthem before their initial defeat against England, as significant domestic turmoil overshadowed the start of their campaign.

In a subsequent match against Wales, however, the men sang along to the anthem and celebrated their goals. Iran beat Wales 2-0 in that match, but failed to qualify from their group.

That World Cup appearance coincided with a brutal crackdown on a major women’s protest movement within Iran, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the country’s morality police.

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“I want to come back to my natural way of playing. That takes time to relearn because that’s something that has been coached out of me a little bit,” Raducanu told BBC Sport. “I have had a lot of people telling me what to do, how to play, and it hasn’t necessarily fit. I don’t necessarily want to have one coach in the role because anyone I bring in is straight away going to be scrutinised – even if it’s a trial.