Harry Kane's strike in Bayern Munich win over Real Madrid on Wednesday night was a landmark moment in the England captain's career.
In putting his side back on level terms at the Allianz Arena Kane had reached 50 club goals in a season in all competitions for the first time.
In doing so, Kane had reached the milestone after 42 appearances, one fewer game than Lionel Messi did during his historic 73-goal season in 2011/12.
Kane's remarkable form in front of goal this season has led to suggestions that the 32-year-old could even go on to challenge Messi and rank among the prolific campaigns in football history.
This season Kane has averaged 1.19 goals a game for the Bundesliga champions, and a two-game stretch against Borussia Monchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen - the latter being a game in which he came on as a second-half substitute - is his longest drought in the league thus far.
The former Spurs captain is also second in this season's scoring charts for the UEFA Champions League, three goals behind Kylian Mbappe with a minimum of two games to play.
In total, Bayern have eight more confirmed fixtures with five in the Bundesliga, a DFB-Pokal semi-final and two legs of a UEFA Champions League semi-final with reigning champions PSG.
Assuming that Bayern fail to reach either final - and that Kane starts the remainder of the club's games this season - he would need to average 2.875 goals a game for the remainder of the campaign, with that figure shortening to 2.3 if they were to reach both finals.
One of the things that Kane has going against him in his bid to make history is the number of teams in the Bundesliga.
During Messi's famous campaign he played in all but one of Barcelona's La Liga games, netting 50 goals from 37 appearances. The German top flight has only had 18 teams since 1965 - other than a single season with 20 in 1991-92 following German unification - and Kane has already missed three games this season through minor injuries.
In addition, Messi's tally includes his two goals from the 2011 Club World Cup, three goals from the two-legged Supercopa de Espana and one from the UEFA Super Cup.
As a result it is highly unlikely that Kane will be able to eclipse Messi's history-making campaign, but if the striker can carry his current form into the 2026 World Cup the Three Lions could be a force to be reckoned with in North America.
Harry Kane's remaining 2025/26 fixtures
Fixture | Competition | Date |
Bayern Munich vs Stuttgart | Bundesliga | 19 April |
Bayer Leverkusen vs Bayern Munich | DFB-Pokal Semi final | 22 April |
Mainz vs Bayern Munich | Bundesliga | 25 April |
PSG vs Bayern Munich | UEFA Champions League Semi-final | 28 April |
Bayern Munich vs Heidenheim | Bundesliga | 2 May |
Bayern Munich vs PSG | UEFA Champions League Semi-final | 6 May |
Wolfsburg vs Bayern Munich | Bundesliga | 9 May |
Bayern Munich vs Koln | Bundesliga | 16 May |
*Bayern Munich vs TBA | DFB-Pokal Final | 23 May |
*Bayern Munich vs TBA | UEFA Champions League Final | 30 May |
* Bayern could play an additional two competitive fixtures this season if they progress to the final in the DFB-Pokal and UEFA Champions League
