Up the path past the gloss green pitches of Real Madrid’s training ground at Valdebebas, out by the airport, then through the white doors, up the stairs and there you see it on the wall. A simple but effective mural depicting 14 trophies in a line. Fourteen identical trophies. Fourteen European Cups.

You see they are not shy about all that here in Madrid. Not shy of what they have done over the years. That number is twice as many as the next in the queue, AC Milan of Italy, who have won seven. It is eight more than Liverpool and nine more than Barcelona. It also includes five won in the last ten years. So this is not just a historical hegemony, it is a modern one too,

And this what Harry Kane and Bayern Munch must attempt to dismantle at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night. Not just the best football team in Spain – they clinched their 36th LaLiga title at the weekend – but also an aura surrounding an institution that simply believes it has a right to lift the most coveted club trophy in European football every springtime.

Even the language of the Madrid media plays to it. Coach Carlo Ancelotti was asked what makes him so special. A question to defender Dani Carvajal began with the assertion: ‘You are an amazing player’.

So, yes, they don’t want for self-regard in this part of Spain and have the numbers and statistics available to back it all up.

Harry Kane and Bayern Munch face a daunting challenge in the Bernabeu on Wednesday night

Anybody who watched Ancelotti’s team play against Manchester City in the quarter-final will attest to the freakish nature of that victory by way of penalty shoot out. 

For large parts of the second leg at the Etihad, Real didn’t even attempt to engage. They could have lost that game 3-0 quite easily. But they didn’t. They drew 1-1 and won the shoot out and here they are, doing what they do once again.

A 2-2 first leg draw last week in Bavaria is not the result it once was. Away goals don’t count anymore. It still places the onus on Bayern, though. Only one team has beaten Real all season and that was neighbours Atletico back in September. So the challenge for Kane and his manager Thomas Tuchel is clear.

‘It’s not a myth we are playing against,’ said Tuchel.

‘We are talking about top players. We played a good first leg. Nothing is impossibe.’

For Tuchel, motivation ahead of tonight’s game is clear. He will leave Bayern this summer after just one season. 

The truth is the former Chelsea manager has flunked it in Bavaria but can sniff the opportunity to leave in style and also to join a group of eight modern managers to have won the Champions League – after its 1992 rebranding – more than once.

As for Kane, it’s even more straight forward. The England captain left Tottenham last summer in order to win his first major medal only to find himself in a team that has now seen its eleven-year domination of the Bundelsiga ended brutally by Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen.

Kane’s numbers in Germany have been extraordinary. The 30-year-old has scored 44 goals in the same number of appearances. In the Bundesliga he averages more than a goal a game. 

But the truth is that Bayern’s season has been miserable. With the club divided off the field, Tuchel’s team have been no more cohesive on it and are currently fifteen points behind Alonso’s surprise champions.

Asked whether anything about Kane’s impact had surprised him, Tuchel threw some light against the shade and said: ‘Yes, how many cappuccinos he drinks during the day. I have been very surprised.

‘Every time I go in to the kitchen he is there. I have started doing it myself now. Look at him, he looks healthy and in good shape.

‘But I knew we were getting a big personality in to the dressing room on top of a goal scorer. He has brought us everything we could have hoped for. Here he needs to prove the point and deliver.’

Bayern trailed in the first leg only to equalise early in the second half and then lead through a Kane penalty. 

Before taking that kick, Kane was subject to a little gamesmanship from his England team-mate Jude Bellingham, the star of the Real midfield. Some saw that as a little disrespectful.

‘Jude is a fantastic guy and he respects everybody,’ countered Ancelotti back at Real’s training ground.

‘He has a really good relationship with Harry Kane for the England team. There is no problem between them.’

This may be true but only one can move to the final tonight. Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer described Bellingham’s impact in Spain since his move from Borussia Dortmund as being ‘like a bomb’ and the young Englishman’s own figures of 22 goals from midfield certainly play to that description.

Tonight at the Bernabeu, Kane and Bayern must blow a hole in Real’s aura of European invincibility. For all Kane’s yearnings, history tells us the smart money should be on white.

Probable teams

Real Madrid: Lunin; Carvajal, Rüdiger, Tchouaméni, Mendy; Valverde, Kroos, Camavinga, Bellingham; Vinícius, Rodrygo

Bayern: Neuer; Kimmich, De Ligt, Dier, Mazraoui; Goretzka, Laimer; Sané, Müller, Musiala; Kane