England’s Kane to return to Bayern Munich for injury recovery

LONDON — England striker Harry Kane has been sent back to Bayern Munich to continue his recovery from an ankle injury, Gareth Southgate has confirmed. Kane will not play against Belgium at Wembley on Tuesday.

Kane joined the England squad ahead of the friendly against Brazil despite suffering an ankle injury in Bayern's 5-2 win over Darmstadt a week ago.

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He was in the stands during the 1-0 defeat to Brazil on Saturday, and Southgate later confirmed the 30-year-old would return to Germany for treatment and would play no part against Belgium.

Bayern face Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga on Saturday and face a Champions League quarter-final against Arsenal later this month.

“He's coming back, he won't be fit for Tuesday,” Southgate announced at a press conference.

In Kane's absence, England lost to Brazil, who won thanks to 17-year-old Endrick's first international goal.

The teenager, who is expected to join Real Madrid this summer, came off the bench in the second half and capitalized after Vinícius Júnior's shot was saved by Jordan Pickford to become Wembley's youngest senior international goalscorer.

“We know he's a dangerous player and he followed the goal,” Southgate said.

“We should have defended the goal better than we did, but it’s a brilliant moment for him.”

It was a disappointing evening for England, who have just three matches left before traveling to Germany for this summer's European Championship.

Brazil, who had 11 uncapped players in their squad, had the better chances but Southgate, who handed Manchester United teenager Kobbie Mainoo his international debut in the second half, insisted afterwards that he was “satisfied” with the performance.

“We clearly don't like to lose, but I think there have been a lot of really good individual performances from players who have hardly played for England at all,” Southgate said.

“We had as many attempts at goal as them, but the difference was only a moment and that's the cruelty of football at this level.

“You're dealing with players of the highest quality and you're going to have moments where your goalkeeper has to make a save. I thought we had moments at the other end. It was a really balanced game and it had ended as a draw which would have been a completely fair result.

“There were a few small mistakes and that decided the match.”