Pep Guardiola was given a stark reminder of what Harry Kane might have brought to Manchester City but insisted that transfer saga belonged in the past after a shock 3-2 defeat to Tottenham.
City had taken 43 points from a possible 45 across their last 15 Premier League games, while Spurs were on a three-game losing skid heading into Saturday's game at the Etihad Stadium.
Yet a double from Kane, including a winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time, gave the visitors a famous win, completing an improbable double over last season's champions.
City lead the way in the English top flight again this year, but their lead over Liverpool is down to six points, and Jurgen Klopp's team have a game in hand.
Guardiola said City had been involved in a "good game", pointing to Tottenham's deep defending as making his side's task difficult.
He added praise for how Tottenham's front three of Kane, Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski offered a threat to City's backline, adding on Sky Sports: "They are clinical, and the crosses we could not defend."
City wanted Kane during the last close-season, and the feeling was probably mutual, but the England captain remained at Tottenham and has been rejuvenated by Antonio Conte's mid-season arrival.
There is now a genuine title race, and Guardiola said: "I don't need a game today to know it. I knew it a month ago. There's many, many games to play. People are going to drop points."
When asked about Kane in a later news conference, Guardiola said signing the striker "never was an option" for City, despite admitting there was interest, and urged people to "forget" that saga.
He should be so lucky.
"It's not necessary for him to show today the goals he scored to show his quality with the ball. All the UK knows it," Guardiola said, signalling Kane's display came as no surprise.
Spurs boss Conte was impressed his team put their recent rocky form behind them to produce such an eye-catching result.
New recruit Kulusevski scored the opener after slick play involving Kane and Son, and Kane restored Tottenham's lead after an Ilkay Gundogan leveller. Riyad Mahrez looked to have pinched a point with a late penalty, only for Kane to head his second goal of the game.
Conte told Sky Sports: "It was a good win for us and a win we need to try to give us more confidence. it wasn't simple to play against Manchester City after three losses in a row, but this is a process. We are working very hard to try to improve every aspect.
"This type of game has to give us confidence to trust the work we are doing. It was important there was a reaction [to the defeats]."
Conte described Kane as "highly important", adding: "He had chances to score and I think in every game we created the chances to score, and today our strikers did very well and Harry was very good to keep the ball.
"I think the first goal was great because this goal is about our job, our work that we are doing every day."
But Conte warned: "One win is not enough. Don't forget we are coming after three losses, but for sure to win against Manchester City can give you confidence and to trust in what you are doing.
"We can improve a lot. This is a group of players that is fantastic, this group is one of the best groups of players I've worked with in my career. We have a lot of work to do but we are not scared to work."
Bayern Munich 3-0 Augsburg: Hat-trick hero Kane smashes Bundesliga record
Harry Kane scored a hat-trick to become the quickest player to score 50 Bundesliga goals as Bayern Munich comfortably dispatched Augsburg 3-0 on Friday.
Kane opened the scoring in the 63rd with a penalty before netting a quickfire double in second-half stoppage time to smash the record previously held by Erling Haaland.
Despite controlling the early possession, Bayern were unable to make their dominance count, with Nediljko Labrovic rarely troubled in the opening 45 minutes.
The hosts maintained their dominance after the interval, with Leon Goretzka's looped header grazing the crossbar before Jamal Musiala went close soon after.
However, Bayern were awarded a penalty after a lengthy VAR review saw Mads Pedersen penalised for handling the ball, with Kane stepping up to score from 12 yards.
The England captain grabbed his second of the game in the third-minute of stoppage time following another VAR review which saw Keven Schlotterbeck sent off after tripping Kane inside the box.
Kane sent Labrovic the wrong way but was not to be denied a fourth treble of the season, brilliantly taking down Goretzka's searching ball before heading the ball home.
Data Debrief: HurriKane
Kane has now scored 50 Bundesliga goals in 43 matches. Before him, Haaland was the quickest player to reach 50 Bundesliga goals, having done so in 50 appearances in the competition for Borussia Dortmund.
He is also the quickest to reach that total for Bayern by some distance. Kane has reached that tally quicker than the likes of Gerd Muller (83 games), Mario Gomez (71 games), Roy Makaay (67 games) and Robert Lewandowski (64 games).
10 of Kane’s goals have come from penalties, while 32 of them have been with his right foot, nine with his left and nine with his head.
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Haaland has 'full trust' in Guardiola to halt Man City slump
Erling Haaland has "full trust" in the "best manager in the world", Pep Guardiola, to get Manchester City back on track against Tottenham in the Premier League on Saturday.
Guardiola's side have lost four matches in a row across all competitions, which is the Spaniard's longest losing run in his entire managerial career.
The Citizens last lost more consecutively between March and April 2006 under Stuart Pearce (six – the fifth game of which was also against Tottenham).
But after putting pen to paper on a new two-year contract extension at the club earlier this week, Guardiola has his eyes firmly set on returning to winning ways on home soil.
And Haaland, who has scored 105 goals in 114 appearances under Guardiola at City, believes they can make up the gap to leaders Liverpool, who are five points ahead.
"When you look at what he's been doing for the club, he's not bad, is he? So he's got my full trust," Haaland told Sky Sports.
"And if he tells me something, I'd better do it because he knows the best in the end. Everyone knows that. So I'm sure he will find solutions now as well. I'm sure of that.
"[Guardiola] demands us to be at our best in every training session, in every game. And that's what we need to do. It hasn't been good enough, losing four games now, but let's try to win the next."
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