Maradona watches on as Kane edges closer to world’s elite

AFTER being touched by the hand of God, Harry Kane was at his superhuman best. There were two more goals from the Tottenham Hotspur striker as he destroyed a Liverpool defence that was simply desperate. They were Kaned and should be caned after this.

At half-time Diego Maradona, here as a guest, held aloft a Kane No10 shirt, playing to the crowd, but it is the kind of moment that will motivate the England forward even more. Kane wants worldwide recognition and world-class status and it was interesting that the Spurs manager, Mauricio Pochettino, introduced Kane to Maradona prior to kick off.

“It was difficult to let (Maradona) go,” Pochettino said of his compatriot, hailing him as “the best player ever”.

Before Maradona’s show of that Lillywhite shirt, Liverpool raised the white f lag. It is hard to recall such a shambolic, insipid defensive display as the one they delivered in a first-half that reaped three goals for Spurs – Son and Alli added to Kane’s opener – before they gifted of another inside the hour.

Parking the bus? That is not Jürgen Klopp’s way but the Liverpool manager threw his defender Dejan Lovren under the bus by taking the hapless centrehalf off just after the half-hour.

BULLIED

By then Lovren had been beaten as Kane bullied the Liverpool defence. It was a man against boys.

Kane’s goals mean that only another Argentinian, Lionel Messi (with 46 goals), has scored more in all competitions in 2017 than the England striker who has 38.

It is 17 in 13 matches for club and country for Kane, 13 for Spurs and when he was substituted there was a standing ovation and also a concerned check from Pochettino as the forward had felt the back of his leg before he went off although he was later said to be simply tired.

While Liverpool will be having nightmares after this, Spurs will believe they have banished their own demons with a thumping home win at Wembley in the Premier League against one of the other ‘Big Six’. It capped a wonderful week after the Champions League draw with Real Madrid, drew them level with Manchester United in second and they look the likeliest contender to push leaders, Manchester City.

Incredibly, after just nine matches, Liverpool are 12 points off the top as most of the Premier League record crowd of 80,827 went home happy. The hundreds Liverpool fans who left early at least might have managed to beat the traffic. (© Daily Telegraph, London)