Kane proud of Maguire's excuse for playing on 'one leg' in German nightmare

England captain Harry Kane was 'proud' of Harry Maguire for playing through injury towards the end of Monday's draw against Germany when it was a nightmarish game for the defender.

Centre-back Maguire has become a much-maligned figure at Manchester United, with his performances regularly in question over the past 12 months or so.

This ultimately led to him being dropped by new manager Erik ten Hag in August after United lost their first two games of the new Premier League season - he hasn't started in the top flight since and the Red Devils have won four games on the rebound.

England manager Gareth Southgate backed Maguire at the start of this international window, suggesting he would stake his reputation on picking the defender before starting him in both Nations League games despite previous vows to choose fit players.

Serie A-winning Milan defender Fikayo Tomori was dropped from the squad entirely on Monday, while Maguire continued to endure a nightmare as his individual errors contributed to England finding themselves trailing 2 -0.

England fought back remarkably to lead 3-2 with three goals in 12 minutes before Kai Havertz's second salvaged a point for Germany, and with the focus already on Maguire - who then spotted limping into the mixed zone – Kane praised his character.

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A post shared by Harry Maguire (@harrymaguire93)

“Any individual mistake, you are going to be gutted. But we are a team, we will support each other,” Kane said.

"They [Maguire and goalkeeper Nick Pope] will learn from [their mistakes] and they'll move on. They've been great for us every time they put on the shirt.

"H [Maguire] had a pretty decent injury at the end, where he played another five, 10 minutes, on almost one leg.

"Great character from him [to keep playing], I'm really proud of him for that."

After the match, Maguire apologized to the fans on Instagram for his mistakes.

The first was a bad pass from behind which was intercepted by Jamal Musiala, which he then clumsily fouled in the box. Ilkay Gundogan scored the penalty.

For the second goal, Maguire was stripped of possession - again Musiala was his nemesis here - on the pitch and Germany launched a quick counter-attack which was completed by a magnificent finish from Havertz .

"Mistakes are part of the game, I apologize," Maguire wrote.

“Great response and spirit to get us back in the game by the guys. Take the positives and look forward to Qatar. Hard times will make us stronger."