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Harry Kane’s two goals against DR Congo not only saved England from a shocking World Cup elimination but also propelled him further up the all-time single-season scoring charts.

After a history-making campaign with Bayern Munich, Kane has carried his extraordinary form into the international stage, achieving numbers that even Cristiano Ronaldo has never matched in a single season.

Ronaldo’s most prolific year came in 2011–12, when he netted 69 goals across all competitions for club and country. That season, Real Madrid reached the 100-point milestone to reclaim the Spanish title from Barcelona, with Ronaldo’s 46 La Liga goals playing a massive part. Remarkably, he surpassed that league total later, scoring 48 goals during the 2014–15 season.

In the Champions League that year, Ronaldo maintained a goal-per-game ratio, scoring 10 goals in 10 matches, and added four more across Spain’s domestic competitions. For Portugal, he chipped in with three goals as they advanced to the semi-finals of the European Championship.

Kane, however, has gone beyond those numbers — and still has more matches ahead to extend his record.

At Bayern Munich, the England captain averaged better than a goal per game across the Bundesliga, Champions League, and DFB Pokal. In the league, he scored 36 goals in 31 matches, while in the Champions League he struck 14 in 13 outings. His domestic cup tally was even more remarkable, with 10 goals in just six games.

He also found the net once in the DFL Supercup, bringing his total club goals for the season to an impressive 61.

On international duty, Kane scored once in a pre-World Cup friendly and has found the net in all but one of England’s matches during the tournament so far. He opened his account with a brace against Croatia, followed by a goal in the final group fixture against Panama after a goalless draw with Ghana.

His double against DR Congo lifted his overall season tally to 72 goals, ranking him as the second-highest single-season scorer of the 21st century.

Of course, the top spot still belongs to Lionel Messi. The Argentine’s 91-goal calendar year in 2012 remains one of football’s most astonishing feats, forming part of his best-ever scoring season.

Messi’s output during the 2011–12 campaign defies belief: 50 goals in 37 La Liga matches — twice the number Ronaldo Nazario managed for Real Madrid in 2003–04. In the Champions League, he scored 14 goals in 11 appearances as Barcelona reached the semi-finals, and he added nine more across other competitions.

Representing Argentina, Messi struck 10 additional times, taking his total for the season to an extraordinary 82 goals.

For Kane to surpass that figure, he would need to score 11 goals in England’s remaining four possible World Cup fixtures — an almost impossible task, though given his current form, few would completely rule it out.