England’s Harry Kane has become the country’s all-time leading goalscorer with his 54th goal for the Three Lions, breaking Wayne Rooney’s record. Kane scored from the penalty spot in England’s 2-1 victory over Italy in a Euro 2024 qualifier in Naples. Declan Rice had opened the scoring for England before debutant Mateo Retegui equalised for Italy. England’s Luke Shaw was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in just 54 seconds. The win was England’s first competitive victory over Italy in 45 years and gave manager Gareth Southgate his 50th win in charge of the national team.
Kane said that Southgate had told him he was “extremely proud” of him and that he deserved the record. He added that he felt the team was “really growing” and that the win over Italy was a “big statement”. Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson said that Italy were a team in transition but could still “hurt teams”. Gary Lineker tweeted that it was “hard to see us not winning the Euros now”. Rooney praised Kane on social media, calling him an “unbelievable goalscorer and an England legend”.
The second half of the match saw England struggle to keep possession and invite pressure from Italy, who were unable to capitalise on their numerical advantage after Shaw’s dismissal. Robert Green said that England had made “hard work” of the win, while Robinson identified Harry Maguire as the player at fault for Italy’s goal. Fans were briefly confused when Kyle Walker appeared to be booked twice, but it later emerged that the first booking may have been mistakenly announced.
England’s next match is against Ukraine at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.