Harry Kane faces the biggest test of his Tottenham career on Tuesday night, with Spurs facing the European champions Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.
England star Kane takes on the 12-time European kings after a ringing endorsement from Los Blancos' boss Zinedine Zidane, who has hailed the striker as a ‘complete player’.
"In the present, I know what he's doing, he's very important player, a key player for Tottenham, very good at everything but he always does it all towards the goal,” explained Zidane on Monday.
"He does not stay [still], he takes the space with speed and he's very good. He' s a complete player. He didn't seem to be but in the end he is.”
Zidane’s comments suggest the player has moved to the top of Real’s hitlist, with the Spanish giants taking a long-term approach towards taking Kane to Madrid in a potential £150million move.
Gareth Bale and Luka Modric have both moved from north London to the Bernabeu, and Kane’s exploits over the past two years are seeing him emerge as a serious choice as Zidane looks to evolve his frontline.
Cristiano Ronaldo remains the man for the big occasion, but increasingly the acceptance is that the Portuguese superstar - who turns 33 in February - will need to be increasingly managed in the coming years; Zidane did that effortlessly last season, with Ronaldo’s decisive late season displays coming up trumps in Madrid’s Champions League and La Liga successes.
Karim Benzema will also turn 30 in December, while injuries continue to plague Gareth Bale, leading to questions over the long-term future of the Welshman. Madrid have a host of attacking talent besides - the likes of Marcos Asensio, Isco, and Dani Ceballos - but they remain reliant on their veteran duo, who are now into their ninth season together, with Benzema's unselfish style having long complemented Ronaldo's magnificence in the final third.
Kane, now 24 and a back-to-back Premier League golden boot winner, has blossomed under Mauricio Pochettino, his rise to prominence astonishing after unremarkable loan spells with Norwich and Leicester City; the last time Spurs played at the Bernabeu (under Harry Redknapp in 2011), a match in which Ronaldo scored, Kane was a late substitute for Leyton Orient against Plymouth in League One.
However, Kane has bagged 105 goals in 149 games for Spurs under the Argentine, and has made no bones of his desire to match the goalscoring exploits of Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Targeting the two leading lights in the game is a bold strategy, but Kane’s self-belief is indefatigable and his work ethic such that his desire to match the records of the game’s leading lights should be applauded.
And ahead of his showdown/showcase in Spain, Kane’s numbers at club level stack up favourably with Ronaldo in 2017.
The England captain has played 32 times for Spurs over the course of the calendar year, and is averaging more than a goal per game, having found the net 36 times.
In contrast, Ronaldo has made 35 appearances for his club, scoring 32 times. His average minutes per goal, 94.2, pales in comparison to Kane, who is finding the net on average every 73.6 minutes.
Goals to games
Minutes per goal
Ronaldo
94.2
Kane
73.6
If Kane's averages impress, then his shots to goal ratio also attests to his clinical nature.
While Ronaldo may get off more shots than Kane - 191 to 153 - the Spurs man leads the way with a much higher percentage of shots scored: Kane finds the net with 23.5 percent of all shots, with Ronaldo coming in at 16.8 percent.
Their spread of goals is interesting also. Ronaldo scores more headers (7 to 4), but Kane finds the net more with his 'weaker' left foot (11 to 5). As you would expect, both score most frequently with their right foot (Ronaldo, 20 of 32, Kane 21 of 36).
The statistics also show Ronaldo's genesis from goalscoring wide player to poacher, with 30 of his 32 goals coming from inside the penalty area; Kane has scored seven times from outside the box this year.
Champions League goals in 2017
Since 2017 began, Kane has hit 27 of his goals in the Premier League (75 percent), while 16 of Ronaldo's goals have come in La Liga (50 percent).
It is the Champions League where Kane - much like Pochettino's side - must really prove himself this season and thus far he is doing precisely that, with five goals in two games - three against APOEL and a brace against Borussia Dortmund.
It is Ronaldo who remains the gold standard at the top European level however, with the Portuguese having bagged 14 times (nine games) in the Champions League this year. That includes a final double against Juventus, as well as a semi-final hat-trick against Atletico Madrid and a five-goal haul against Bayern Munich in last season's quarter-final.
Tuesday night's meeting represents the perfect opportunity for Kane to show his development into an elite goalscorer.