Kane compares himself to Messi and Ronaldo: 'I'm taken for granted!'

Tom Weber

Updated: 21 Mar 2025 12:07 GMT
4 min read

Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane, Lionel Messi — © IMAGO

England sharpshooter Harry Kane believes that he is 'taken for granted' because of his consistently impressive performances.

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The Bayern striker has been reunited with Thomas Tuchel and is raring to continue his goalscoring form. The German coached Kane in Munich last season and is now set to take charge for his first England game.

STATS

Harry Kane

F (C)

Bayern

Harry Kane

F (C)

Bayern

37

Games
32

Goals
11

Assists

The Three Lions face Albania in a World Cup qualifier on Friday evening, but the level of the opposition has not generated much enthusiasm despite it being Tuchel's debut.

Indeed, Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer insisted earlier this week on their podcast, The Rest is Football, that 'back in the day' England games were bigger occasions as the opponents were of a much higher quality.

Albania, Latvia and Gibraltar were held up as examples of teams England are expected to steamroll, thus taking away from the importance and excitement surrounding Three Lions games.

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Kane believes he is taken for granted

However, speaking to the media ahead of the clash with Albania, England captain Kane categorically disagreed with this sentiment. The 31-year-old insisted that he was excited about these upcoming matches and also made a larger point about the public perception of himself and England.

Kane, who is his nation's all-time top scorer as well as second in the Premier League scoring charts, believes that there is an element of people taking his exploits for granted because he is so consistently prolific.

"It's like when [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Lionel] Messi were throwing these crazy numbers out there and the next season they'd score 40 goals instead of 50," Kane began. "It was like they were having a bad season!

"People take it for granted and maybe a little bit with England as well. I've scored 69 goals and when you score against Albania or Latvia, or these teams, people just expect it so it's not spoken about so much.

"Sometimes, I say if I was 25 now and doing what I'm doing, the excitement around me would maybe be a little bit different to what it is now. Again, that's part of where we are with football and I've seen it with some other players as they get into their 30s.

"Maybe people just get a little bit bored of what you do, but I'm certainly not bored. I'm excited for these games and the games ahead."

It's like when Ronaldo and Messi were throwing these crazy numbers out there and the next season they'd score 40 goals instead of 50. It was like they were having a bad season!

- Harry Kane

Kane also expressed his belief that he has managed to reach another level in his career since leaving Tottenham for Bayern. "Just being at a club like Bayern Munich has helped push me on even more, confidence-wise and responsibility-wise," he said.

"I feel like I've definitely got better, I've improved, and maybe the 'aura' of me as a player is a bit more respected than what it has been in the past because you're playing in big games, big nights.

"That's probably what I mean in terms of being respected more worldwide, on the bigger stage. For something like [the Ballon d'Or], you have to win enough team trophies to be considered in that and probably score 40-odd goals, but that is a possibility this season."