Wednesday’s briefing: Kane helps Bayern to victory and Havertz is Arsenal hero

England captain Harry Kane was on target as Bayern Munich beat Real Madrid, while Germany striker Kai Havertz fired Arsenal to victory at Sporting Lisbon.

Michael Carrick received the backing of Manchester United’s players to become the permanent boss, and under-pressure Arne Slot warned his Liverpool side they cannot afford a repeat of their FA Cup humiliation.

Kane the Real deal

Kane scored his 49th goal of the season as Bayern Munich made a Champions League statement with a 2-1 first-leg win at Real Madrid.

Kane, passed fit after picking up an injury on England duty, struck just 20 seconds into the second half after Luis Diaz had given Bayern the lead.

Real pulled one back through Kylian Mbappe’s 14th Champions League goal of the campaign to set up a mouthwatering second leg in Munich next week.

But the 15-time champions were well below par and their disjointed display was at times met with loud whistles from their frustrated fans.

Havertz scored a stoppage-time winner to fire Arsenal to a 1-0 victory in Lisbon.

Substitute Havertz latched on to Gabriel Martinelli’s ball to deliver a fine finish in the first minute of added time to put Arsenal in control of the contest ahead of next week’s return at the Emirates.

Players back Carrick

Manchester United players believe Carrick is the right man to lead the club forward on a permanent basis, according to Amad Diallo.

Carrick has transformed United’s fortunes since taking the job until the end of the season in January, guiding them up to third in the Premier League and putting them in the box seat to secure a return to the Champions League next season.

After sacking Ruben Amorim at the start of the year, United had wanted to give themselves time to consider all their options for a long-term appointment, but Carrick has put himself firmly in the frame.

“Sometimes this kind of manager can bring a club where they belong,” said Amad. “From my personal side he’s the right man but it’s not the players who decide, but we are really happy to have him as a manager.”

Sitting alongside Amad in a press conference at their training base near Maynooth, Bryan Mbeumo said the players had enjoyed working under Carrick, who has won seven of his 10 games in charge.

“We’ve got good experience with him, playing under him as well,” he said. “As (Amad) said, it’s not for us to decide, but we’re going to try to take as much as we can from him.

“He knows the DNA of the club, he knows how to talk to us as well, I think it’s been easier because he knows the place. It’s been great to work under him.”

Harry Maguire said he believes United are “in a forward curve” after signing a new deal to stay at Old Trafford beyond this summer.

Slot in Reds alert

Slot ​knows Liverpool are in for a pummelling at Paris St Germain if their performance drops like it did in the humiliating FA Cup exit to Manchester City.

A difficult second season under the Dutchman hit a new low on Saturday lunchtime as the reigning Premier League champions collapsed either side of half-time in an embarrassing 4-0 last-eight loss.

Virgil van Dijk accused the team of giving up and apologised to fans after a defeat that has increased the pressure ahead of Liverpool’s challenging Champions League quarter-final first leg away to holders PSG.

The Reds rode their luck at the Parc des Princes last term as they secured a 1-0 smash-and-grab last-16 first-leg win, but Slot knows a drop off akin to that seen at the Etihad Stadium will mean they are not so lucky in France this time.

“I can tell you, if we have the 20 minutes we had at City, if we have them tomorrow evening here, we will again concede four goals because these players over here know how to act if we are having 20 minutes like that,” the Liverpool manager said.

“It is a challenge for us to be from the first to the last second at the level we were at in the first 35 minutes (at City).

“If not, it’s going to be a really hard night again, like it was last year where we completely deserved to lose 4-0 over here or maybe more.

“But that’s the beauty of football. In the 85th minute we scored a goal and it was almost like this was a robbery.”

Ramsey retires

Former Wales captain Aaron Ramsey announced his retirement from football at the age of 35.

The midfielder, who spent over a decade with Arsenal before stints with the likes of Juventus, Nice and Cardiff, has been without a club since leaving Mexican side Pumas at the end of last year.

Having won the last of his 86 caps for the national side in 2024, due to a combination of injuries and limited game time, he was overlooked for Wales’ recent World Cup play-off against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

What’s on today?

Liverpool travel to France to face PSG in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

Barcelona host Atletico Madrid in the all-Spanish last-eight tie.