In what has been an incredibly engrossing Euro 2024, several teams have boasted star players that have helped carry their teams to either expected results or impressive heights. Two players who were pegged going into the tournament as two players to potentially contribute so highly, were England’s captain and leading marksman Harry Kane and Portugal’s iconic Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, with Portugal eliminated and England making their way to the semi-final, despite criticism over the team’s style of play, neither player has set the world alight in the summer’s competition, with both players receiving some doubts over their performances. With that in mind, INSPORTS has taken a look into the numbers behind both players’ time at Euro 2024 to see if their performances have been as bad as first made out.
Attacking
Harry Kane edges Ronaldo on goals in Germany
When looking at the attacking statistics, the one outlier is the goals themselves, with Harry Kane having scored twice so far in Germany, as Cristiano Ronaldo, who found the net in two penalty shootouts vs Slovenia and France, failed to find the net in normal time before his country’s elimination.
This may show the clinical edge to Harry Kane, who despite averaging far less shots on goal a game, is the only one of the pair to have scored in the game. The first an instinctive poke home to give England the lead against Denmark in an eventual 1-1 draw, and the next the winner in the round of 16 against Slovakia in extra-time, having got there thanks to heroics in the 95th minute from Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham.
On average, Kane has shot three times a match, whereas Ronaldo has shot 4.7 times a match, partly helped to his performance against Slovenia, notably taking almost every set-piece, and failing to properly threaten from any of them among his eight shots total in that game.
Ronaldo, though, has been the more proactive of the two strikers. He has ran, on average, an extra 2km a game and averages an extra 5.7 touches a game over Kane, who has been noted, sometimes negatively, for his lack of activity in the build-up to England attacks, instead perching in hopeful positions waiting for the chance to fall his way.
It isn’t the worst tactic in the world when utilizing a striker who smashed the debut Bundesliga season goal record last campaign with Bayern Munich, but it has left England somewhat limited without a striker there to burst in behind, such as is what is offered by Aston Villa star and England bench warmer Ollie Watkins, whose introduction against Denmark added a fighting spirit that England seemed to lack the game throughout.
Kane, though, has been the more clinical of the two. Despite Ronaldo holding an extra 1.2 shots on target per game to his name in comparison to Kane, he has also averaged an extra 1.6 general shots to his name per match as well. When extrapolating this downwards to a shot/shot on target conversion rate metric, Kane has been the more accurate shooter, rather than the volume shooting seen by Ronaldo, who has also missed two more big chances this tournament in comparison to Kane.
Interestingly, too, Kane exactly matches his xG for the tournament, scoring two goals from an xG of 2.00, whereas Ronaldo failed to score in his five games played at EURO 2024, despite a higher xG of 3.60, further instilling the clinical edge Kane carries. Proactiveness, energy and speed with no goals to boast, or a lack of movement behind and a methodical outset with two goals to boast. An interesting debacle between goal tallies and team systems alike.
| Harry Kane vs Cristiano Ronaldo: Attacking Statistics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Kane | Ronaldo | |
| Goals | 2 | 0 |
| xG | 2.00 | 3.60 |
| Shots p/g | 3.0 | 4.6 |
| Shots on Target p/g | 0.8 | 2.0 |
| Goal Frequency | 232 mins | 0 mins |
| Goal Conversion | 13% | 0% |
| Free-Kick Goals | 0/0 | 0/7 |
| Big Chances Missed | 3 | 5 |
Playmaking and Work-rate
Ronaldo shows no signs of slowing down
Despite the critics claiming Ronaldo is far past his glory days, and held Portugal back from their best at EURO 2024, which are valid points, you cannot question his work ethic as he closes in on 40 years old. Maybe he no longer carries that turn of pace or the deep, flashy box of tricks that leaves so many fans adoring him over his storied career, but that level of energy and work rate is not to die away from Ronaldo’s capabilities anytime soon.
When comparing work rates to Kane, Ronaldo clears him in several metrics, though there is a good chance this is more to do with tactical deployment styles between the two managers rather than any form of laziness from Kane himself.
In terms of distance covered per match and sprints made, Ronaldo outperforms Kane in those particular metrics, covering an extra 2km of distance per game and performing 3.7 more sprints a match than the Englishman. Furthermore, CR7 has been more active in the playmaking side of things, to better effect. Though Kane is seen as an effective ‘complete’ striker with a great range of passing, these capabilities have come across rather limited in EURO 2024, with Kane holding a passing accuracy of 74%, making only 10.2 passes per game. Ronaldo outperforms this particular metric, averaging 16.2 passes a game at an accuracy of 84%.
Ronaldo has also conjured up an assist, though his only goal contribution of the tournament, and has largely been a bigger creative force for Portugal, with Kane instead trusted primarily to score goals, Ronaldo has been expected to do a bit of everything. Ronaldo averaged 1.2 key passes per game compared to Kane’s 0.4, and created two big chances whilst Kane has created none, whilst touching the ball an extra 4.5 times a match as well.
| Harry Kane vs Cristiano Ronaldo: Playmaking/work-rate statistics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Kane | Ronaldo | |
| Assists | 0 | 1 |
| Touches p/g | 26.6 | 31.4 |
| Passes p/g + accuracy | 10.2 (74%) | 16.2 (84%) |
| Big chances created | 0 | 2 |
| Key passes p/g | 0.4 | 1.2 |
| xA | 0.17 | 0.50 |
| Sprints p/g | 17.6 | 21.3 |
| KM covered p/g | 10.2km | 12.4km |
Overall, when looking at the statistics between Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo, a number of differences between the two become apparent, whether that be due to how their respective managers have deployed them or how they carry themselves in the matches.
Though Ronaldo has seemingly provided more energy and more effort towards his games in comparison to Kane’s, only one of them has found the net at EURO 2024, that being the Englishman. Ronaldo was trusted, in his older, more striker-focussed stage of his career, to still carry that wizard-like flair and work-rate seen by CR7 in his prime, whereas Kane has been leaned on for his instinctive goalscoring, rather than forcing him into playing a turn of pace that he doesn’t have.
The differences are there, but we have to say it’s Kane who has has the better competition over Ronaldo. You simply cannot argue with the goals.
All statistics courtesy of SofaScore. Correct as of 08.07.24.