From Tripolis to Real Madrid: Harry Kane and Tottenham are relishing their turn in the limelight

Following the impressive 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu, the Spurs forward discusses swapping shirts with Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane's compliments and a determination to keep getting better

Spurs are now on the brink of qualification from this most difficult of Champions League groups (Getty Images)

Three years ago this week Harry Kane was facing Asteras Tripolis in the Europa League. Just establishing himself in the Tottenham first team, Kane scored a hat-trick and even got to go in goal at the end after Hugo Lloris was sent off with three minutes remaining.

Spurs still won 5-1. So it was a fun night for Spurs, but it was not the big time. Almost exactly three years on, Kane, Lloris, Eric Dier and Jan Vertonghen, as well as a cast of new faces, held their own against the winners of the 2014, 2016 and 2017 Champions Leagues.

There could be no clearer sign of this team’s progress than this: from Tripolis to Real Madrid in three quick years of Mauricio Pochettino’s inspirational management. “It was a big statement,” said Kane afterwards, who in that time has gone from a slightly gawky 21-year-old contender to the probable best centre-forward in world football.

“A few years ago we were playing Europa League. To come here to the Bernabeu and put in a performance like that, where we could have maybe won it, that shows what kind of team we are.”

Pochettino was delighted afterwards because he said that his team had finally proven to him that they could live with the best sides away from home, which has been the one thing they have struggled with over the last few years.

With Liverpool at Wembley on Sunday – which might as well be an away game – and then Manchester United at Old Trafford next Saturday this is the perfect time to make that step.

By the time Real Madrid come to Wembley on 1 November Spurs could be flying.

“We have to keep improving and keep getting better,” Kane said. “It will give us confidence for the Premier League because we’ve shown we can do it against the best team in the world at the moment. We are very happy. We go to Wembley now in a couple of weeks against them and the winner goes through now with Dortmund drawing so it’s a good incentive for us.”

It is remarkable that Spurs are now on the brink of qualification, given how hard their group looked at the draw, and their struggles last year.

But there is a new-found respect for them in one of the great football cities of the world. Pochettino was applauded by the Real Madrid fans at the end of Tuesday night’s game while Kane adorned the front pages of the Madrid daily sport papers all week.

He is in that bracket now of elite performance that for him to swap shirts with Cristiano Ronaldo at the end felt perfectly natural.

That would not have been the case when Kane was banging them in against Asteras Tripolis.

“I asked for Ronaldo’s shirt at the end, he’s a big role of mine growing up,” said Kane, who was only 10 years old when Ronaldo made his Manchester United debut. “It’s a nice shirt to get and to frame it. I gave him my shirt too, but I don’t know what he’ll do with it.”

Then there is Zinedine Zidane, the Real Madrid manager, who spoke warmly about Kane before the game, only intensifying the whispers that Real may try to sign Kane some time.

For now, Kane is just taking all of that in his stride. He has come so far so quickly and will use it as motivation and momentum, nothing else.

“I try to use that as a positive,” he said of Zidane’s comments. “I have said before that positive comments help a striker, so I try to use it as motivation. When you’ve got a striker scoring goals it’s natural for people to talk about it. I use that as a positive, try to use it for confidence moving forward.”