Kane gets goal credit, but teased online

LONDON The ridicule facing Harry Kane has been cutting and biting.

Opposition players dished out emojis lampooning the Tottenham striker. Rival fans targeted him on social media with doctored images.

Kane’s misdemeanour? Wanting credit for a goal.

Not just in the heat of the moment on the pitch, but by using a little-known process that allows Premier League players to appeal against the official determination of a scorer.

It wasn’t enough for Kane that Tottenham claimed a 2-1 victory at Stoke on Saturday, nudging the north London club closer to a third successive appearance in the Champions League.

Christian Eriksen was recorded as the scorer of both goals but Kane was adamant that he got the faintest of touches to the second effort.

That was not how the Premier League Match Center viewed it.

So determined was Kane to move onto 25 goals in the league this season that he issued a heartfelt plea.

“I swear on my daughter’s life that I touched the ball,” he said.

Then he found out about the Goal Accreditation Appeals Panel. Testimony was submitted and a three-person panel reviewed the video footage.

“The final touch on the ball belonged to Kane,” it declared on Wednesday night, providing vindication for Kane. But at a cost? The England international now needs to accept being teased about it.

It would be a small price to pay for winning the Golden Boot for the third season running as top scorer in the league.

At least the taunts are largely humorous rather than the venom that often infects social media messages sent to players.

Images of landmark goals in soccer were already flooding Twitter with Kane superimposed claiming the glory.

And when the appeal verdict came in, Mohamed Salah, whose lead over Kane on the scoring leaderboard was cut to four goals, tweeted “Wooooooow really?”

In Liverpool, Trent Alexander-Arnold replied with two emojis — one with a hand covering his face; another representing a thinking face. Goalkeeper Simon Mignolet posted a video of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg smirking.