Harry Kane might have ended up sharing the Euro 2024 Golden Boot but England's captain and record goalscorer will know that the question marks around him this time were mostly justified.
Kane cut a forlorn figure at the final whistle in Berlin on Sunday night as England were left heartbroken once again as the losing finalists in consecutive European Championships. Gareth Southgate's men had given themselves a chance, but on this occasion it had little to do with their previously talismanic skipper.
They hit back after Nico Williams' second half goal with substitute Cole Palmer's low strike from outside the box. It was not enough though as in the final five minutes, Mikel Oyarzabal popped up in the box with the winning goal for Spain.
Kane struggled on the night in Germany. He managed just 13 touches of the ball, won only two aerial duels and just five of his 10 passes reached their intended target and his one shot towards goal was blocked. The England captain was taken off on the hour mark by Southgate and replaced by Ollie Watkins and England's record goalscorer could have few complaints after a forgettable 60 minutes.
Kane's display means that in the 181 minutes he played across both the Euro 2020 and 2024 finals, the England striker had just one shot, one touch in the opposition box and managed just 58 touches of the ball in total.
Yet with just three goals in the tournament, the 30-year-old still ended up with the top scorer prize as UEFA decided it would be shared. So he will be awarded it with Dani Olmo, Cody Gakpo, Georges Mikautadze, Jamal Musiala and Ivan Schranz. For Kane to have his name on it means that joins Gerd Muller as the only two players to have finished as the top scorer at a World Cup and a European Championship.
Yet the individual awards are not what Kane was seeking in Germany this summer and he may well know that Muller won both the World Cup and European Championships on top of his personal accolades.
This was a tournament in which the country looked towards Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer rather than Kane for their inspiration and Watkins after his dramatic semi-final winner.
For Kane, he did not look right or seem to move freely throughout the tournament. The back injury that hampered the end of a first season in Munich that brought 44 goals in 45 games and 12 assists perhaps was still an issue or if not, the missed games in the month before the tournament could explain a lack of sharpness but not mobility. Southgate mentioned after the final that those missed matches left Kane not in the condition he would have wanted to be in.
Others will point towards Southgate's system and question whether it got the most out of Kane, one of the world's best goalscorers. Tottenham supporters will know that the energetic, high pressing Kane of old became more selective with that sort of movement in later seasons following repeated ankle injuries and a serious hamstring one.
Kane became more and more impactful as a deeper lying playmaker, with fast runners around him, who he could either provide the assists for or the passes to get them behind the defence and then he could sweep in the box for the return ball.
Kane is one of the best finishers around and that is why Spurs and England's record goalscorer managed to smash records with his goals at Bayern. It's what he does. He has won not only the Golden Boot at the World Cup and Euros, but also in the Premier League (three times), Bundesliga and Champions League as well as the Golden Shoe as Europe's top goalscorer.
Kane has scored 351 goals in his senior club career with another 66 for England, making it a ridiculous 417 times he's hit the net for club and country. So there is no doubting his quality in the final third.
What people will continue to question though are his performances in the big matches at the business end of tournaments. Kane has come so close so many times and sometimes, like this year, injuries and a lack of sharpness have played a part and sometimes he has played his part but others haven't. Sometimes he's been part of a sub-par team performance but understandably people look to him to drag his side through the big matches as he does the other ones.
The doubts will linger about his impact in big matches until he wins a trophy. It won't matter that this month he became the leading European scorer in knockout matches in both European Championship and World Cup history with nine goals in 14 matches.
He has contributed in some big tournament games. The England captain netted in extra-time at Wembley against Denmark in the semi-final at Euro 2020 to send his country through to the final. That day he was knocking in the rebound from his saved penalty but he was more clinical from the spot at the same stage this time around against the Netherlands earlier this week.
At club level, his most recent big games came for Bayern Munich with the Champions League semi-final legs against Real Madrid. The German side might have lost out 4-3 on aggregate across the two games but it was not for the want of trying from Kane, who provided a goal in the first leg and an assist in the second.
Bayern had the rarest of seasons in that they didn't win anything in the 2023/24 campaign, only giving ammunition to the Kane critics with him becoming some kind of trophy jinx. Others will see it that Kane was one of the few top quality things about the Bavarian giants last season.
During his time at Tottenham, most will point to that night in Madrid in June 2019, when the north London side lost to Liverpool in the Champions League final.
Kane looked exactly what he was - a rusty player who had been brought back straight into the starting line-up after two months out injured. His inclusion was harsh on Lucas Moura, who had scored that dramatic hat-trick in the semi-final second leg at Ajax, but very few managers in the world would have left Kane out of the starting line-up if he was considered fit. The striker's lack of impact that night is often highlighted while his team-mates, who had no excuses for their lifeless displays, were able to escape in his shadow.
His other two finals were League Cup ones for Spurs, unable to score against Chelsea or Manchester City in those games at Wembley.
Kane had eight domestic cup semi-finals in all while at Tottenham, including a couple of double-legged League Cup ones. He netted two goals and provided one assist in those matches.
Sunday's final and his inability to play much of a role will only add to the question marks. Harry Kane will respond with goals as he always does, but it is only the gleam of silverware that will silence the doubters.
Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham. Click here for in depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.
