Kane basks in the joy of 'my! happy place' with England

Captain says Ronaldo and Messi have inspired his bid to stay ontop, with his 100th cap tonight at Wembley

- David Hytner

'I still remember it like it was yesterday," Harry Kane says, and he is straight into the story, the one about his England debut, and what a story it is. March 2015, Lithuania at Wembley, on as a 71st-minute substitute for Wayne Rooney, a goalscorer 79 seconds later. "I don't think I could have dreamed it any better," Kane says.

"It sure goes quick." The way Kane works, it is always on to the next thing. Train, play, score, repeat. And the next thing is a landmark which he could not have conceived of back then but one that, like so many of those linked to him, has come into view inexorably, inevitably.

A century of England caps; a feat achieved by only nine other men. It will become a stunning reality for Kane at Wembley tonight against Finland, the Football Association expected to present him with a golden cap before kick-off.

Kane is in the mood to reflect - on the numbers, taking in the record goal return (66); the sheer scale of it all. He moved past Rooney to the top of the list with a penalty against Italy in March 2023, and he describes that and Lithuania as the obvious highlights.

Beyond that, there are two more, Kane says. The clinching goal against Germany in the Euro 2020 last-16 tie and the late headed winner against Tunisia in the 2018 World Cup opener.

What about in terms of style? A game where he scored a really sweet one? "Poland away [in September 2021]," he replies.