Zidane praises 'complete player' Kane

AFP

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane heaped praise on Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane ahead of Tuesday's UEFA Champions League clash between the sides which will be an acid test for the prolific England striker.

Kane leads the scoring charts in Europe's elite competition with five goals in Spurs' games against Borussia Dortmund and APOEL Nicosia, one more than Cristiano Ronaldo.

Kane, who has also six strikes in the English Premier League and has scored 13 times in his last nine matches for club and country, has been the main focus of media attention before Tuesday's blockbuster clash between Spurs and the European champion and was featured on the cover of Spanish newspaper Marca on Monday.

"He is a fundamental player for Tottenham, he is very good in every aspect, but the best thing about him is that he's always got the goal on his mind," Zidane told a news conference on Monday.

"He's a very complete player even though he does not look it, but he always turns up when he needs to."

Zidane ducked a question on whether he would like to sign Kane for Real which is short of strikers after selling Alvaro Morata to Chelsea.

"I don't know what's going to happen in the future," he said.

Tottenham's Spanish striker Fernando Llorente, meanwhile, warned Real about the threat his teammate poses.

"We have great players who are capable of playing very good football and we have Harry Kane, who at the moment is turning everything he touches into a goal," Llorente said in an interview with Marca.

"There isn't a great deal of difference among the top teams in Europe and I'd count Tottenham among them."

Real has flattered to deceive in La Liga this season as it bids to defend the Spanish title for the first time since 2008, dropping points in four of its eight games, but like Spurs it has won both UCL matches, convincingly beating APOEL and Dortmund.

It sits third in the domestic standings, five points behind leader Barcelona and scraped an unconvincing 2-1 win at Getafe on Saturday thanks to a late strike from Ronaldo.

"You have to keep their best players under control, you can't just try and take the ball off them because they are much better in possession now and when they don't have it they are still very dangerous on the counter-attack," added Llorente.

"Madrid can kill you off easily because they have more quality and are more effective than most teams, but they always give you a chance."