Harry Kane sets sights on emulating goal feats of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as Tottenham forward reaches 45 goals for 2017

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Harry Kane has set his sights on emulating the goalscoring returns of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as he continues to take steps towards his aim of being the world's best striker.

The 24-year-old took his Tottenham tally for the season to 13 in all competitions with two goals in their 4-1 thrashing of Liverpool on Sunday, also moving above Manchester United's Romelu Lukaku and Manchester City's Sergio Aguero in the Premier League Golden Boot race.

The England striker now has scored 45 goals for club and country during 2017 and continues to scale new heights with each passing week.

Harry Kane celebrates scoring Tottenham's fourth goal in Sunday's 4-1 win over Liverpool

Forward Kane fires home from close range to round off Tottenham's thumping win on Sunday

Kane isn't fazed by comparisons with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi after a great 2017

Asked about favourable comparisons with Ronaldo and Messi, he said: 'At some stage I want to be the best player in the world and to do that you have to be up there with these players.

'They set the standards, Ronaldo and Messi, so for the rest of us it's about trying to catch them and get up there.

'The numbers are good, but for me it's important to be winning these big games against big teams. It shows we are coming together as a team and getting better. That's the most important thing.

'We will see where we finish at the end of the year but it's always my aim to be up there with the very best.'

Asked whether he can reach a half-century of 2017 goals in the remaining two months of the year, he replied: '50 would be nice. We will see.

Tottenham moved level on points with Manchester United in second following their win

Kane celebrates after opening the scoring for Tottenham on a dominant afternoon at Wembley

'There are plenty of games to go, a lot of tough games coming up, so we will just see. I don't like to think about it too much.

'I feel confident, scoring goals early in a game like that helps as well, so I just want to keep it going.'

Kane had the opportunity to meet legend Diego Maradona ahead of the match with the Argentine watching his two goals from the stands at Wembley.

He said of the experience: 'Great energy, great guy. He is one of the best No 10s ever so it was great for him to be here today.

'He was very energetic, he said some nice compliments not just to me but to the team and to the manager. It was great to be in the company of someone like that.

'What a player he was and I can only learn from someone like him.'

Kane and Tottenham celebrate another impressive win as they put Liverpool to the sword

The manager introduced Kane and keeper Hugo Lloris to Diego Maradona

Maradona made one appearance in a Spurs shirt when he played in Ossie Ardiles' testimonial

Tottenham's impressive 4-1 win took them level on points with second-placed United in the standings and, after Wednesday night's EFL Cup tie with West Ham, a trip to Old Trafford awaits Spurs next Saturday.

Kane said: 'With United dropping points it gave us a chance to catch them up and next week is going to be a massive game we’re looking forward to.

'We have a lot of tough games coming up so we have to recover well, keep going and performances like this will only help us.'