Harry Kane has labelled his outrageous goal from the halfway line against Juventus in Singapore as “one of the best of my career”.
The Tottenham forward struck in stoppage time to claim a 3-2 win in the pre-season friendly. Lucas Moura’s interception fell into Kane’s path and he unleashed a first-time rocket that flew over Wojciech Szczesny in the Juve goal.
“It’s probably one of the best goals in my career,” Kane said afterwards. “I saw the keeper was quite far off his line a few times, so I thought I would take the chance if I had the opportunity. I saw him off his line and fortunately, it went in.”
Kane’s wonder goal sealed victory with Sunday’s match heading for penalties. Erik Lamela had opened the scoring on the half-hour mark but Juventus rallied in the second half, with former Chelsea striker Gonzalo Higuaín equalising before Cristiano Ronaldo fired the Italian champions ahead.
Good to be back 😉⚽ #COYS pic.twitter.com/0IyYufatit
— Harry Kane (@HKane) July 21, 2019
Tanguy Ndombele made an impression after coming off the bench, with the club-record signing from Lyon playing in fellow substitute Lucas, who finished smartly to level the scores and set up Kane’s winning moment of magic.
“It’s unbelievable from Harry,” Mauricio Pochettino said. “I think it is good for him to start the pre-season scoring. It wasn’t the priority to win the game, but to compete in our best way, and in the end to win, is always better than not winning.
“This type of situation happens because of the quality of the player to see the position of the keeper. It’s [Kane’s] talent that in that moment the ball arrived, and he decided to shoot. It was a little bit lucky that the ball went in.”
The Tottenham head coach was also full of praise for £55m recruit Ndombele. “He is a player with the capacity to do what he did today,” Pochettino said. “He played more than I expected because our plan was to play him for only 15 minutes, but with the tempo in the second half it was good to give him 30 minutes.
“We are happy with him but still, we don’t expect too much. We know his talent and what he can add to the team but it’s step by step, and I don’t want to put too much pressure on him.”
The new Juventus head coach, Maurizio Sarri, was not too downhearted after defeat in his first match at the helm. “It was a difficult match today,” the former Chelsea manager said.
“The preparation for this match has been difficult,” Sarri added. “Tottenham were quicker, but this is natural. They are two weeks closer to the start of the season so they’re in a more ready position.”