Comparing how long it took Harry Kane to reach 500 goals with Messi & Ronaldo
Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane has joined an exclusive club of legendary players – featuring, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi – to reach 500 career goals.
But how does Kane stack up against the two era-defining icons when it comes to the stats behind the goals? We’ve taken an in-depth look at how long it’s taken Kane to reach the historic milestone in comparison to Messi and Ronaldo.
The England captain scored the 499th and 500th goals of his professional career with a well-taken brace in Bayern’s routine 3-0 victory away to Werder Bremen on Saturday.
“It was nice. Obviously, a proud achievement to reach 500 goals. It’s a lot of hard work, a lot of sacrifice, so nice to reach it. But as always, it’s about the next one,” Kane told broadcaster DAZN.
“So the most important thing today is the win, the clean sheet.”
Kane scored the goal in the 743rd appearance of his professional career. It comes just over 15 years since he made his professional debut as a youngster on loan at Leyton Orient, a 1-1 draw away to Rochdale in League One.
Of Kane’s 500 career goals, exactly a fifth have been penalties. He’s scored 280 goals for Tottenham Hotspur, 126 for Bayern, 78 for England and 16 in his early career loans (nine for Millwall, five for Leyton Orient and two for Leicester City).
His favourite team-mates include Son Heung-min, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen, who assisted 32, 28 and 27 of Kane’s goals respectively. Nowadays, he’s enjoying a particularly fruitful relationship with Michael Olise, who has directly assisted 14 Kane goals since joining Bayern in 2024.
It’s been some journey since those humble beginnings to become England and Tottenham’s all-time top goalscorer, as well as a record-breaker at Bayern Munich.
Here’s how long it’s taken Kane to reach the milestone in terms of games played, his age, and time since debut in comparison to Messi and Ronaldo. For further context, we’ve also included the number of penalties scored and assists notched in that time.
Harry Kane
Games: 743
Age: 32 years, 6 months, 17 days
Time Since Debut: 15 years, 30 days
Goals: 500
Penalties: 100
Assists: 129
Minutes per goal: 118
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 147
Minutes per goal or assist: 94
Lionel Messi
Games: 632
Age: 28 years, 9 months, 24 days
Time Since Debut: 11 years, 6 months, 1 day
Goals: 500
Penalties: 64
Assists: 201
Minutes per goal: 101
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 116
Minutes per goal or assist: 72
Cristiano Ronaldo
Games: 753
Age: 30 years, 7 months, 25 days
Time Since Debut: 13 years, 1 month, 16 days
Goals: 501
Penalties: 81
Assists: 165
Minutes per goal: 119
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 142
Minutes per goal or assist: 89
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