(Football news) Harry Kane created history by becoming England’s all-time leading goalscorer as they began their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with a 2-1 win over Italy in Naples on Thursday. It was a rematch of the final of the last Euro Championship finals as they won on penalties. England early on showed their dominance in the first half and went into the half time break with a comfortable 2-0 lead courtesy of Declan Rice and Kane’s record-breaking penalty.

Italy did have a better second half and halved the deficit in the 56th minute when the debutant Mateo Retegui who is Argentina-born scored following a silly  giveaway by Harry Maguire. England in the end had to defend as the complexion of the game shifted with 10 minutes remaining when Luke Shaw was sent off for a second yellow card to leave them with 10 men in the final minutes. Gareth Southgate’s side did enough to hold on and get their first away win against Italy since 1961.

For England it proved the perfect response after losing to France in the World Cup quarter-finals in December when Kane missed the opportunity to not only become England’s top scorer but they missed out on a World Cup semi-final. This time he made no mistake from the spot after Giovanni Di Lorenzo was punished for a handball in the 42nd minute. Kane was involved in England’s opener as his shot was blocked and fell for Rice to convert the ball into the net as majority of fans inside the Estadio Diego Armando Maradona were silenced.

Italy struggled to create clear chances and suffered a first defeat in the Euro qualifiers in 41 games. It was also England’s first  victory over Italy since 1977 and meant that  Gareth Southgate racked up 50 wins as the national coach since taking the job in 2016. Rooney, whose 53 goals came in 120 games compared to Kane’s who took just 81 caps to break his record as he was the first to  to congratulate his former international team mate.

“I just want to say that this has been a really special night for me personally and a really special night for the team,” Kane said. “It’s the first time that England have won in Italy for a long, long time and to be part of that is amazing.

“I want to also say a big thank you to my teammates, to the staff, the fans, my family back home and my wife. It’s a really special night and one that I’ll never forget and I’m just so proud. And to everyone in here, thank you to everyone who has made this dream come alive.”

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