Gordon compares Kane to Messi after England captain's World Cup heroics

Anthony Gordon likened Harry Kane to Argentina great Lionel Messi after the England captain's brace kept the Three Lions' World Cup hopes alive. 

Kane scored two late goals in England's 2-1 victory over DR Congo at Atlanta Stadium, with Thomas Tuchel's side having trailed due to Brian Cipenga's seventh-minute strike. 

The Bayern Munich star headed in the equaliser from Gordon's cross in the 75th minute before picking out the top corner four minutes from time to complete a titanic turnaround. 

Kane has scored 10 goals across his 11 major tournament knockout stage appearances since Euro 2020 – that is three more than any other European player in that period (Kylian Mbappe – seven).

The 32-year-old also became the first England player to score a brace in a World Cup knockout stage match since Gary Lineker against Cameroon in the 1990 quarter-finals. 

He also took his tally for this year's tournament to five goals (level with Erling Haaland), with only Messi and Mbappe (both six) netting more in the race for the Golden Boot. 

Kane came into the tournament off the back of a brilliant season for Bayern, with his 68 goal involvements (61 goals, seven assists), 20 more than any other player across Europe's top five leagues in all competitions. 

"It's amazing to be around him every day because when you're around someone at the elite level, he's at the very, very top of football," Gordon said of Kane.

"He's having a season that's only ever been beaten by Leo Messi, the greatest footballer of all time. So that speaks to the level he's playing at.

"When you're around someone like that, you want to pick up as many habits and watch everything he does to see why he's at that level. It's no accident.

"It's consistency every day: how hard he works, every finishing drill, he does it with passion, he does it with seriousness.

"He never, ever misses a beat. It's amazing to be around him. He's definitely an inspiration to all of us."

Kane's brace took him to 13 World Cup goals, surpassing Pele (12) in the all-time charts with only Messi (19), Mbappe (18), Miroslav Klose (16), Ronaldo Nazario (15) and Gerd Muller (14) now above him.

He also now has 16 goal involvements at the World Cup overall – since his 2018 tournament debut, only France's Mbappe (22) and Argentina captain Messi (19) have more.

Gordon also played his part in the turnaround. He became the first England player in World Cup history to be directly involved in more than one goal as a substitute (two assists).

"As soon as he hit it, I knew it was going in. I was already celebrating, but anyone can score a good goal," Gordon said of Kane's winner.

"Anyone at this level can place the ball in the top corner, but it's the consistency that he does.

"Every day in training, every game is phenomenal. He plays at such a high, high level."