Kane surpasses Messi, Ronaldo to score most goals in 2017

Tottenham's striker scored a hat-trick against Southampton in the early match of round 20 of the Premier League, and set two records at the same time.

Harry Kane scored two goals in the first 40 minutes of the match against Southampton on the evening of December 26. The 24-year-old striker ended a memorable Boxing Day by raising the score to 5-1 in the 67th minute.

With a hat-trick against Southampton, the England international has 56 goals for both club and country in 2017. Kane has thus surpassed Lionel Messi (54 goals), Robert Lewandowski, Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani (all 53 goals) to take the top scorer position in the calendar year.

Kane was the top scorer in the calendar year 2017. Photo: PA.

Of Harry Kane's 56 goals, eight are hat-tricks, including the hat-trick he just scored against Southampton, the highest among strikers playing in Europe's top five leagues.

Tottenham's No. 10 is also the first person to break the dominance of the Ronaldo and Messi duo in scoring in a calendar year, since 2010.

In addition to dethroning Messi, Kane also broke Alan Shearer's 22-year record of scoring the most goals in the Premier League in a calendar year.

The England legend set the record in 1995, scoring a total of 36 goals for Blackburn in 42 games. Kane equalled that record in the previous round, with a hat-trick against Burnley on 23 December.

A hat-trick against Southampton helped Tottenham's main striker take sole lead, with 39 goals in 36 Premier League appearances in 2017.

According to VNE