As Great As Messi? Comparing Tottenham’s Phenomenon With Barcelona’s Talisman
Harry Kane, the Tottenham Hotspur hitman, has been the most fearsome and menacing name in the Premier League for the past few seasons. His outrageous goal-scoring trait has made him the most prolific striking sensation of Premier League football since 2014. The 24-year old Englishman is currently the biggest name for the Three Lions prior to their next year’s FIFA World Cup competition. His back-to-back hattricks against Burnley and Southampton have helped the talismanic Spurs forward to break several records that are quite fascinating and deserve massive appreciation.
Firstly, his hattrick versus the Saints has taken his league goals tally to 18, 3 more than the previous leader Mohamed Salah. Also, he equalled the legendary Alan Shearer’s record of most number of league goals (36) in a calendar year and another 3 against Southampton has taken him well-ahead of the Newcastle United legend (39). Kane simply looks unstoppable at this moment and as things stand, only he is capable of breaking the new Premier League record set by himself.
But the stats that have shaken the football world is Harry Kane’s 56 goals in the year, that has overtaken Lionel Messi’s 54 goals tally for 2017 across all competitions. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, two of the greatest icons of world football in the current era, have dominated the list for past few years; Kane, 24, has now managed to break that incredible record by banking on his stupendous goal-poaching attribute.
Kane told Sky Sports on the Boxing day:
“I’m very proud of it. Messi and Ronaldo have dominated football for so long and are two of the best players ever.
“To be compared to them, or just be up there with them is a great honor.”
Kane has scored 56 goals in 52 appearances at the rate of 1.06 goals-a-game which is quite remarkable if compared to Messi’s, who took 64 games to score his 54 goals at 0.84 per game.
Spurs are often termed as ‘Harry Kane FC’ following their upsurge in recent years, coincidentally since the Englishman started showing his prolific scoring nature. The North Londoners are an established ‘top four’ outfit now who are also leaving an impression on this year’s Champions League competition.
However, stats are arguably not the only thing in football. Kane and Messi are completely different kind of stars who should not be compared in terms of quality and ability. Messi is probably world’s finest of stars who is ruling the football world for more than a decade now and should not be termed as an outright striker as Harry Kane.
The Argentine sensation brings more to a game than just scoring goals as he loves to create and orchestrate moves alongside fellow attackers. He is versatile, swift on the wings, seems unstoppable in an attacking midfield role and has been equally effective as a ‘No. 9’. These two, thus, should not be kept in the same bracket except for some statistical comparisons and the English superstar still has a long way to go before reaching Messi’s mastery.