Harry Kane Says Wembley Has A Better Atmosphere than White Hart Lane

Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane has said the atmosphere at Wembley Stadium is even better than at the club's traditional home venue, White Hart Lane.

Kane spoke ahead of Spurs' Europa League last-32 second leg against KAA Gent at Wembley on Thursday, per Jacob Steinberg of the Guardian: 

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White Hart Lane is obviously a lot smaller and the crowd are on top of you. But at Wembley it is even better, to be honest with you. Even though the fans are not as close to the pitch, having 90,000 there is incredible. I think it's a full house again, so hopefully we can use it to our advantage.

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Spurs have played their European matches away from the Lane this season as a new stadium for the club is being built, but they have found only mixed results at Wembley. They failed to qualify from the group stage of the Champions League after struggling against AS Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen at England's national stadium.

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Despite the setbacks, Kane believes playing at Wembley wasn't the reason for a dire Champions League campaign, per Steinberg: "I don't think the stadium was to blame, we just had two bad games. There have been other stadiums where we have played badly against teams as well. Of course, people will try to use Wembley as an excuse, but we definitely won't be looking at it like that."

In fairness to Kane, Tottenham did win the last Champions League game the club played at Wembley, beating CSKA Moscow in December.

The north London side's star striker believes that win must be a source of confidence against Gent: "We won the last time we played there, so we have to use that. We have our stuff on the walls, like Tottenham sayings and Tottenham pictures. We try to make it as much of a home as possible, so we have no excuses."

Confidence aside, it may take more than adding a few homely touches to Wembley before Spurs can truly find the benefit of using it to host games in Europe. Kane and Co. trail Gent 1-0 on aggregate after falling flat in Belgium.

Spurs need a more stable defensive performance, particularly against the break, to win the second leg—as well as greater creativity in the final third. Without those things, it won't matter where Tottenham play.

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Of course, Spurs must start getting used to Wembley, since the club has applied to play all its home matches at the venue next season, according to Tom Collomosse of the London Evening Standard.

Yet, Spurs only need look across north London for an example of how playing at the national stadium can harm their European ambitions. Local rivals Arsenal played Champions League ties at the old Wembley during 1998 and 1999, and they failed to progress from the group stage on both occasions.

A club like Tottenham, with its growing ambition to be a regular feature in European tournaments, may rue passing on the intimidating atmosphere afforded by their regular home at White Hart Lane.