Harry Kane Says He Wants to 'Score as Many If Not More' Goals Than Lionel Messi

Tottenham Hotspur star Harry Kane has revealed his ambition of matching or surpassing Lionel Messi's goalscoring feats at some point in his career. 

The striker spoke ahead of Spurs' clash with Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday and said he is using Messi as a benchmark to aim for.

Per David Woods of the Daily Star, he said:

"It motivates me to get even better and improve and one day score as many if not more than he has.

"He's definitely set the standard for the rest of us. Him and Cristiano Ronaldo have gone above what other people have set in the years gone past.

"When you're scoring as many goals as Messi is, 40 or 50, 60 goals a season, as a striker—I want to try and match that.

"As players you want to play against the best players in the world, and Messi is certainly a fantastic player."

Kane netted 41 goals in all competitions last season in what was the most prolific campaign of his career. Messi achieved the same tally in 2013-14 and 2015-16, but they were his lowest totals since he netted 38 in the 2009-10 season.

Sky Sports compared the duo's club career tallies:

Messi, 31, has naturally played far more matches, but he has a ratio of 0.87 goals per game compared with 25-year-old Kane's 0.57.

Former Tottenham and Barcelona striker Gary Lineker is one of Messi's biggest admirers:

He's an enormous fan of Kane, too:

Per Woods, Kane was the highest scorer in Europe's top five leagues in the calendar year of 2017 with 56 goals for club and country, two more than Messi managed over the same period.

It's clear the Englishman has to kick things up a level or two if he's to consistently deliver the same numbers as Messi each season, though.

That might be an impossible task even for a player of Kane's exceptional talent, but it bodes well that he's setting his sights so high and speaks of his ambition to succeed.

The pair will come face to face on Wednesday at Wembley Stadium and both sides will be hoping their goalscoring focal points can deliver.

Spurs lost to Inter Milan in their opening Champions League match while Barca have failed to win their last three domestic games, so both could use a positive result.

Kane has five goals in eight matches for Spurs this season, while Messi has eight in nine, so it will be of little surprise if one or both of them gets on the scoresheet.