Kane falls just short of surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo's Champions League record

There was a date with history, and Harry Kane was left knocking at the door. The English striker needed just one more goal to match Cristiano Ronaldo's record for consecutive matches scoring in the Champions League, but against Atletico Madrid he couldn't find the back of the net. Still, Bayern Munich didn't need him to: the club won 2-0 thanks to goals from Lennart Karl and Konrad Laimer, the latter set up by a pass from Kane himself.

Ronaldo's record has stood since the 2017-18 season, when the Portuguese star scored in 11 straight Champions League appearances, a streak that began with a brace against Juventus in the previous year's final and carried on through the entire group stage and both the round of 16 and quarterfinal ties, all the way to the Real Madrid side that went on to lift its third consecutive European Cup after beating Liverpool in the final.

Kane arrived at this match carrying a promising streak of his own: he had scored in 10 straight European outings, putting him one step away from matching the legendary Portuguese forward. The penalty he converted against Arsenal in matchday three of this league phase had put him on the doorstep of the record, just days after picking up the Ballon d'Or. But on Tuesday, against Atletico, the streak came to an end without Kane finding the net, though he did leave his mark with the assist for the second goal.

Kane's run has quite a story behind it. It began with a brace against Union Saint-Gilloise on matchday seven of the 2025-26 Champions League, continued with another goal against PSV Eindhoven, and stayed alive even when the Englishman watched from the bench as his teammates thrashed Atalanta 6-1 in Italy in the first leg of the round of 16. He struck again with two goals in the return leg against the Italian side and kept scoring in every match as Bayern dreamed of the final, until PSG ended their run in the semifinals. This season, he's added goals against Bodo/Glimt, Viking FK and Arsenal itself before running into the wall that is Atletico Madrid.

Kane himself had recently spoken about his future in Munich, right in the middle of this scoring streak that had everyone talking about him:

My new contract with Bayern is extremely close, it will happen in the next few days.Harry Kane

Here's how the list of longest scoring streaks in consecutive Champions League matches stands for now: at the top, tied with 11, are Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, 2017-18) and Harry Kane (Bayern Munich, since 2026). Kane himself sits alone in second with his 10 from this campaign, followed further back by Ruud van Nistelrooy with Manchester United (2002-03) and Robert Lewandowski, who pulled off the feat twice with Bayern, in 2019-20 and 2020-21, both with 9. Ronaldo also appears on the list with 8, thanks to his 2013-14 run.

The streak has stopped, yes, but Kane's name is now etched alongside Ronaldo's at the very top of that list. And with Bayern advancing through the Champions League, there's nothing stopping the English striker from getting another chance soon to claim the record all for himself.