Southgate saddened at prospect of Kane making history in empty stadium

Gareth Southgate says it would be “hugely unfortunate” if Harry Kane was to break the England goalscoring record in a match where supporters were banned. The England captain scored his 49th international goal on Saturday to give the team a 2-1 Wembley win against Switzerland and the only question now seems to be when he will overhaul Wayne Rooney’s total of 53.

Southgate suggested he was preparing to omit Kane from the starting lineup against Ivory Coast on Tuesday night and following that match England must play two of their four Nations League ties in June behind closed doors.

The games against Hungary in Budapest and Italy at Wembley will have no fans present following sanctions from Uefa. Hungary have been punished for the behaviour of their supporters during Euro 2020 while England’s ban is because of disorder that marred the final against Italy.

“I don’t think Harry will worry where he is playing in terms of the opportunity to break the record,” Southgate said. “But that would be hugely unfortunate [if it was to be in an empty stadium].

“Frankly we have seen and had enough of games behind closed doors but for both countries it is a punishment because our fans and their fans weren’t able to control themselves. That’s an embarrassment for us but it is the situation we have got. It would be particularly sad if that was the game where Harry broke the record.”

Southgate said he had been “looking at two possible teams for these games” against Switzerland and Ivory Coast and he pushed back when asked if he faced a tough decision over whether to keep Kane in the starting XI on Tuesday.

“No, that’s not a tough decision,” Southgate said. “We want to keep all of the squad involved. All of the players are also in a part of the season where they’re coming in off a heavy load of games and are going back into important games, so this is one of those occasions when it works for us and the clubs when it comes to sharing the load.

“We need to find out about players and we still can bring players from the bench. We want to keep going on a positive run of results as well.”