Harry Kane compared to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as Thomas Tuchel makes new England claim

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Evening Standard

·31 marzo 2026

Harry Kane compared to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as Thomas Tuchel makes new England claim

Toothless friendly displays without talismanic captain has sparked World Cup fears for Three Lions

Thomas Tuchel compared Harry Kane's influence to that of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as he insisted that England's reliance on their captain is "totally normal".

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Kane was ruled out of Tuesday night's friendly against Japan at Wembley due to a minor injury he picked up in training on the eve of the match.

With the 32-year-old watching on from the stands, England made no real impression in attack and fell to a tame 1-0 defeat. They were booed off at full-time.

The Three Lions were similarly lacklustre last week in a 1-1 draw with Uruguay and Tuchel is yet to find a back-up to Kane that he can rely on.

Phil Foden was poor as a false nine against Japan, while Dominic Solanke and Dominic Calvert-Lewin have both been unconvincing.

Asked if he was concerned about his side's reliance on Kane, Tuchel fired back on ITV: "Well, why would Argentina not rely on Messi or Portugal not rely on Cristiano Ronaldo?

"This is totally normal. Key players left camp for us, key figures. We saw that a bit. We lacked a punch in the last 20 metres in both matches."

Kane has scored 31 goals in 26 Bundesliga appearances for Bayern Munich this season, to go with 10 in nine Champions League matches.

England's hopes of a deep run this summer at the World Cup rest on keeping the striker fit, with there now no more friendlies to experiment before the squad fly out to the United States in June, where they will play New Zealand and Costa Rica in warm-ups before their Group L opener against Croatia in Texas.

"In the absence of Harry Kane, we don't have the same threat," Tuchel admitted.

"Bayern Munich in the absence of Harry Kane has not the same threat. No team in the world has the same threat.

"It's just normal. If top teams rely on top players and top nations rely on top players, that's just absolutely normal.

"On top of it, Harry dropped out. We lost not only him as a player but we lost him as a personality. Always a bit disrupting if the captain leaves the last training after 15 minutes and is out of the squad."

Tuchel added: "We can win games without Harry. We will win without Harry, we have won without Harry. But it's easier to win matches with Harry of course.

"I'm not looking for a second Harry Kane - there is no second Harry Kane."