LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) – Jude Bellingham hailed teammate Harry Kane as England’s greatest-ever player after the captain marked his record-equalling 125th appearance by scoring two goals and creating another in Tuesday’s 3-0 Nations League win over the Czech Republic.
Kane drew level with former goalkeeper Peter Shilton as England’s most-capped men’s player and celebrated the milestone by taking his tally to 91 international goals in front of an appreciative home crowd at Wembley.
“First and foremost he is an unbelievable human being, as a captain and a man,” Bellingham told ITV.
“He is the best England player to ever wear the shirt and it is an honour to play with him. He is pretty unmatched. He is scoring goals for fun, he goes deep and he gets tackles in. He is only getting better.”
Kane helped create England’s opener with a cross that was turned into his own net by Czech defender Vladimir Coufal before adding two goals of his own, prompting manager Thomas Tuchel to pay tribute to his striker’s consistency.
“It’s what he does,” Tuchel said. “I don’t take it for granted, it’s just exceptional every single match.”
Kane’s latest milestone came at the stadium where his England journey began more than 11 years ago.
The Bayern Munich striker made an instant impact on his 2015 debut when he came off the bench against Lithuania in a European Championship qualifier and scored 79 seconds later.
“It’s always special, even just walking out now and seeing the stadium, just the excitement of what’s to come,” Kane said before kickoff. “I try and never take it for granted. It’s obviously a special night tonight, but as always, we’ve got to focus on the job.”
Kane, who also rattled a shot off the crossbar on Tuesday, has become one of the defining figures of the national team, breaking Wayne Rooney’s scoring record and surpassing him as England’s most-capped outfield player at the World Cup earlier this year.
KANE CLOSES IN ON CENTURY
The 33-year-old also broke Gary Lineker’s England men’s World Cup scoring record this past summer, drawing level on 10 with a double against Croatia, then moving clear with a goal against Panama. By the end of the tournament, Kane had extended the record to 14 World Cup goals.
He also holds the England record for major tournament appearances with 36, goals at major tournaments (21), major tournament games as captain (32) and goals at Wembley (31).
And now, he is nine shy of the elusive 100-goal mark that only three male players have reached in history in Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Argentina great Lionel Messi and Ali Daei of Iran.
“He’s at the level where tonight, this is what we expect of him: two, three goals, whatever. The guy’s a machine,” former Manchester United captain Roy Keane said on ITV’s broadcast. “That desire to score goals, it’s fantastic.”
“The hardest people to impress sometimes are your teammates and they all speak so highly of him, talk about how brilliant he is on the pitch, he’s also got a good attitude … he deserves everything that comes his way.”
Shilton, whose cap record has stood since 1990, posted a congratulatory message on X.
“You will go on and beat (the record) in November, I’m sure of that, and maybe go on and set a record that will never be beaten,” he said in a video. “Because you’re still going strong, Harry, still playing well and scoring goals, and I know how much dedication and hard work you’ve actually put into achieving this.”
(Reporting by Lori EwingEditing by Toby Davis)
