Harry Kane was inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo when he first started playing soccer and is now using the Portugal star as a source of motivation nearly 20 years later.
“Just watching Ronaldo score his 901st goal yesterday, seeing him compete at 38, 39 years old, it just inspires me to play as long as possible,” Kane said Monday, a day before he becomes the 10th English player to reach 100 international appearances.
To celebrate this achievement, Kane — England’s captain and all-time top scorer with 66 goals — will receive a gold cap before the Nations League match against Finland at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday.
The Bayern Munich striker will be the first England player to reach 100 caps since Wayne Rooney in 2014. At 31, and still one of the top strikers in the world, Kane is on track to break former goalkeeper Peter Shilton’s record of 125 appearances for the national team.
However, Ronaldo’s numbers are on a different level. The five-time world player of the year increased his goal tally for Portugal to 132 — a world record in men’s international soccer — on Sunday by scoring the winning goal against Scotland in his 213th appearance, also a record.
Kane finds Ronaldo’s achievements as he nears 40 years old motivating and said it “motivates me to know I have many more years ahead at the highest level.”
“I think to have that hunger, desire and determination, almost a sense of keeping wanting to prove people wrong, prove to yourself that you can be the best you can be,” Kane said, “then whenever the day comes when you stop playing, you can be proud of what you’ve done.”
Kane thinks his ability to play as a No. 10, rather than just a traditional striker like Ronaldo, could help him stay in the game longer.
