Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspurs becomes England’s all-time leading scorer after he scored against Italy in the 2024 Euro qualifier match.
The Spurs forward was tied with Rooney at 53 goals even before Thursday’s game against Italy.
Harry Kane, England’s captain scored the game-winning goal with a penalty to beat the record in Naples.
After an Italian defender, Giovanni Di Lorenzo was called by the Video Assistant Referees and intervened for a handball inside the area just before halftime, the 29-year-old Tottenham star finally scored against Italy after four previous matches.
As a result, Kane has now scored 54 goals in 81 games for the Three Lions, surpassing Rooney’s 53 goals in 120 games.
Before now, the top five goal scorers for the three Lions included Bobby Charlton (49 goals in 106 games), Gary Lineker (48 goals in 80 appearances), and Jimmy Greaves (44 goals in just 57 appearances), all of whom have been surpassed by Kane.
Italy vs England match in brief;
The encounter on Thursday 23rd of March, 2023 seems to be a replay of the Euro 2020 final, which Italy won in a penalty shootout, so the Three Lions took some advantages and defeated the Italian side by 2-1.
With Ciro Immobile sidelined for the time being, Italy might occur to be short on strikers, which put Gianluca Scamacca, a forward for West Ham, in position for a starting role.
Leonardo Bonucci, a key player in Italy’s 2016 Euro Cup victory, was also out due to injury.
England dominated the first half and took a two-goal lead into halftime on goals from Declan Rice and Kane’s record-setting penalty kick.
Mateo Retegui, born in Argentina, scored on his Azzurri debut after a turnover by Harry Maguire in the 56th minute as Italy battled back to cut the lead in the second half.
With ten minutes left in the game, the tone of the match was changed even more when Luke Shaw was sent off for a second yellow card, leaving England to defend the closing minutes with ten men.
But Gareth Southgate’s squad held on for the first road victory over Italy since 1961.
Kane also had a hand in England’s first goal, which Rice converted after his initial effort was stopped, thereby silencing the majority of supporters inside the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona stadium.
Retegui slammed a low shot past Jordan Pickford in the second half, and Italy became much more threatening.
Recall that Italy who defeated England on penalties to win Euro 2020 at Wembley Stadium did not qualify for the World Cup.
Italy struggled to produce clear chances and lost for the first time in 41 Euro qualifying games as England continued to sink further and deeper as they looked to run out of steam.
This victory was Gareth Southgate’s 50th as England’s head coach since he took over in 2016. It was also England’s first over win over Italy in a competitive match since 1977.
For the first time in a decade, Naples played home to Roberto Mancini’s Azzurri, but the match was a disaster for the hosts.
Harry Kane’s achievements
Kane has never won a title in his career as a footballer but he won the Premier League highest goal scorer for four different seasons and also the highest goal scorer in Euros qualifiers 2020 including 2018 World Cup.
He also won the England Player of the year for straight four years
Harry Kane’s future
The player is likely to follow Declan Rice path who failed to accept a new deal at West Ham.
Harry Kane is eager to win silverware and moving to a bigger club could cement him as one of the greatest England player in history.
Manchester United and Chelsea are looking forward to signing a striker next season and the club will test Tottenham Hotspurs owner Daniel Levy.
He is going to worth £150 million and Manchester United are ready to break the bank to sign the striker who can guarantee 30 goals in a season
