Harry Kane described becoming Tottenham’s all-time record scorer with 267 goals as a “magical feeling” and a “dream come true”.
The striker achieved the milestone – surpassing the late, great Jimmy Greaves in Spurs’ history books – with the decisive moment in their 1-0 win against Manchester City, a result that was no doubt cheered across north London given it also maintained Arsenal’s five-point lead over Pep Guardiola’s side at the top of the Premier League.
Kane’s big moment came on 15 minutes, the striker sending a side-footed shot past Ederson after Pierre-Emile Højbjerg had seized upon a poor pass from Rodri 25 yards from goal and, having moved into the area, played a well weighted pass into his teammate’s path. Cue an eruption of noise from the home spectators followed by the flashing up of “Congratulations Harry”, in gold letters, on the large screens at either side of the pitch.
Kane also became the third player to reach 200 Premier League goals, after Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney.
“It’s surreal, a magical feeling,” Kane said. “There’s been so much talk about it [breaking the record] and I wanted to get it done as soon as possible. To do it against one of the best teams in the world, it’s a special feeling. I couldn’t have asked for more. Jimmy [Greaves] was one of the best strikers to ever play the game, so to even be mentioned in his company is amazing. To go above him is a dream come true.”
Antonio Conte was unable to celebrate Kane’s landmark strike in person as he remains in Italy recovering from gallbladder surgery. But the head coach’s assistant, Cristian Stellini, who oversaw Spurs in his absence, revealed that he congratulated the forward, as well as the rest of the team, via a phone call in the dressing room after the final whistle.
“He was really happy and has given all the players a day off,” said Stellini, who described Kane as a “Goat [greatest of all time] in this league” as well as a “great example”.
Stellini also hailed Spurs’ performance here as one of their best of the season. That was a fair assessment given how well the hosts defended having taken the lead, in the process securing a victory that strengthens their hopes of securing a Champions League place. Spurs are now one point behind fourth-placed Newcastle.
City have lost all five games they have played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, not even managing to score in the process. Their best effort was a Riyad Mahrez strike in first-half stoppage time that thumped the bar and, overall, this was a ragged and largely toothless display by the champions. Erling Haaland ended the game having failed to have a single attempt on goal.
“We started well, as usually happens against Tottenham, but we made a mistake and they punished us,” Guardiola said.
Asked if he saw this result as a missed opportunity given Arsenal’s defeat by Everton the previous day, the City manager played a straight bat. “We dropped three points but there are a lot of games to play,” he said.