Harry Kane has set himself the target of emulating Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi on the biggest stage after kickstarting his World Cup career with the brace that secured England a winning start in Russia.

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The Tottenham striker now has eight goals from six games as captain of the national side and 10 in eight under Gareth Southgate’s stewardship. His two strikes against Tunisia keep him within reach of Ronaldo, Diego Costa and Romelu Lukaku in pursuit of the tournament’s Golden Boot, a trophy he is intent on claiming, and banished any lingering memories of his toils at his only previous major finals, a scoreless Euro 2016.

“I had to prove people wrong throughout my career and I love proving to myself I can do it,” said Kane. “Ronaldo is the best in the world, up there with Messi, but the challenge is there to be with them. To be the best player in the world you have to aim high – you can’t aim low – so just put no limits on yourself. I worked hard to get where I am. I have a lot of determination, I enjoy being here and it is about stepping it up. I said before I was so excited to be at a World Cup and it is about proving a point. The Euros were disappointing for me, for everyone, so it was a challenge to put that right. There is no better way to do it than to win and score a couple of goals.

“I want to prove myself at a major tournament, I want to be up there with the best in the world and the only way to do that is to perform on the big stage and in the big moments. It gives me confidence doing that and I want to do that in the games ahead. I have been itching to get out there and showcase my talent. We have been in Russia a long time and were all excited to get started but you are never sure until you get out on the pitch. There are those moments when you need a goal but we did not panic, we looked calm, we did not look like conceding and we are always a threat at set pieces.”

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Kane left the pitch at the Volgograd Arena on Monday night to discover his Spurs manager, Mauricio Pochettino, had texted him congratulations. The Argentinian has been key to the forward’s development and helped instil the 24-year-old’s unswerving belief in his ability. “Poch texted me and after the game as well – he sent a lot of love hearts and said: ‘Come on England!’” he said. “He is rooting for me. He has a lot of lads here. He is not just my boss, he’s my mate … he’s the manager but he’s a friend as well. He wants me and the whole team to do well.”

The striker, who confirmed he had opted against swapping his No 9 shirt with a Tunisian opponent post-match, is now focusing on the game against Panama on Sunday when England can potentially secure qualification for the knockout phase.

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“The message we have is: we attack the tournament,” added Kane. “We have not done well in recent years, so there is not much else that could go wrong. I would rather come here, attack it and score goals. If we go out, we go out. If not, we go through.

“Some big teams have lost already. It is a World Cup and we are fighting for it. Look at Mexico beating Germany and how much it meant to them. Tunisia was a tough game for us but we proved to ourselves we can step up in the big moment. If we are to go far, we have to win games like that and teams who do well need last-minute goals or last-minute saves. As for my shirt, I wanted to keep it, that’s all: a first goal at a tournament, my first World Cup goals, the team’s first win, my first World Cup. One to keep.”