Champions League Performance Insights: How Viking and Harry Kane sparked space debate
Friday, October 16, 2026
Article summary
Viking provided an intriguing example of a bold approach against Bayern while Harry Kane’s mastery of timing and space offered a lesson to young players, as UEFA senior player development manager Bruno Cheyrou and the UEFA game insights unit explore.
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How best to defend in the UEFA Champions League?
The view of Bayern München coach Vincent Kompany is there can be no half-measures: a team must either commit to pressing high or drop deep. “You only have two ways,” he said when reflecting on this last season. “The first one is to go full or the second one is to retreat fully. The in-between does not work against top-level players."
Viking's defensive excellence
After just one match of this season’s league phase, Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim and Morten Jensen, coaches of new boys Viking, came to the same conclusion – as seen by the graphic above.
Against Bayern this week, they ditched the “in-between” approach and, for the German champions, it had a constraining effect: Kompany’s men managed only two line-breaks between the defensive and midfield unit that led to shots or goals, compared to ten on Matchday 1 against Bodø/Glimt.
“We discussed that we either press high in a man-to-man or stay committed in a low block,” said Aarsheim. “We learned a lot from the game against Stuttgart where we ended up in a mid-block and opened up too much space.”
Viking were facing a team that had scored at least four goals in five of their previous seven European appearances. They were also facing a striker, Harry Kane, on an eight-game Champions League scoring streak (now nine). We will come back to Kane later but, for 45 minutes of the sides' eventual 3-3 draw, Viking's approach bore fruit.
As this clip highlights, they excelled with their defensive work in and around the box, especially in the wide areas. Aarsheim reflected that “the key to our success today was that we closed down the critical spaces – the winger, eight and full-back on the ball-side dealt with all problems that Bayern throw at you in the wide areas."
The conclusion of the first clip shows another string to Viking’s bow: how they played out of Bayern’s counterpressure – with superb combination play – to launch the counterattack that brought their splendid second goal.
Kane the difference-maker
With his first goal in Stavanger, Kane extended to nine games his scoring run. This video of his second goal, a back-post header, displays the finer details of his mastery of timing and space. In his additional role as playmaker, meanwhile, he is seen in video three below starting out in the left-back position before producing the pass of the match.
Keys to Kane's pass
- Awareness of team-mates/opponents
- Open body shape, ready to receive
- First touch away from opponent and into open space
- Perfect execution
Coaching reflection: Kane's example to young forwards
Bruno Cheyrou, UEFA’s senior player development manager, says: “What makes him special is his ability to escape marking and move away from crowded areas to create space and find the right passing angle.
"His intelligence allows him to deliver the right pass, at the right time, into the right space. From a youth development perspective, he’s a great example of why we should develop intelligent, adaptable and technically complete forwards, rather than limiting young strikers to finishing and playing inside the box.”
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