Mauro Icardi is as lethal as Harry Kane, except he took his team-mate’s girlfriend
The two strikers will be looking to get on the score sheet during Tottenham's clash with Inter Milan at Wembley in the Champions League
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THEY are the two hottest No 9s in world football.
They are both 25, have topped the scoring charts in their respective leagues and captain their clubs.
They are lethal in front of goal and are their team’s go-to men.
And they have something else in common: neither Harry Kane nor Mauro Icardi have won any silverware.
The duo will be centre of attention at Wembley tonight, but they also have plenty of differences.
After all, could you imagine Kane nicking his girlfriend off a team-mate?!
And on the international stage there is no comparison. Kane won the Golden Boot at this summer’s World Cup and boasts an impressive tally of 20 goals from his 35 England caps.
Yet Icardi has struck just once in his eight appearances for Argentina... spread over five years.
While Kane’s life and career has centred around north London, apart from some short loan moves, Icardi was born in Argentina and moved to the Canary Islands aged nine.
He joined Barcelona as a teenager, then switched to Sampdoria in Italy where he made his senior debut before moving to Milan five years ago.
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Last season he was Serie A’s top scorer with 29 goals as the Nerazzurri finished fourth.
So far this term he has seven Serie A goals and struck against Spurs in Inter’s 2-1 Champions League victory.
He also hit the winner in the 2-1 success at PSV Eindhoven.
Off the pitch, the difference could not be greater. Kane has two children with fiancée and childhood sweetheart Katie Goodland, while Icardi was at the centre of a national scandal at Sampdoria as he started a relationship with Argentine model and reality TV star Wanda Nara.
The main problem was that she had three sons with his team-mate and best friend Maxi Lopez. But after a divorce, she married Icardi and the pair now have two daughters.
In one match between Sampdoria and Inter in 2014, Lopez refused to shake Icardi’s hand, leading the media to dub the game the ‘Wanda derby’.
Unbelievably, Icardi has the names of Lopez’s sons — as well as his own children — tattooed on his body.
And to round it off Nara is now Icardi’s business manager, with the pair appearing on the covers of Italy’s glossy mags.
It is a world away from the way Kane lives his life — yet both continue to bang in the goals. And former Juventus and Milan striker Filippo Inzahgi, reckons the pair would form a good partnership.
Inzaghi, now boss of Bologna, scored 157 Serie A goals and hit the net 25 times in 57 appearances for Italy.
The 49-year-old said: “Icardi is a very good striker in the box because he can find his space thanks to lethal movements.
“Kane, thanks to his physical presence, can play in all positions of midfield and attack sides because he has that strength.
“I like him because I feel he is always inside the game, with his mind helping his team-mates a lot.
“I can’t choose who is the best between them. For me they can play together and, as a coach, I’d like to train such fantastic players.”
Ex-Chelsea and Juventus striker Pierluigi Casiraghi has studied both men and holds a very different view. Once Gianfranco Zola’s No 2 at Birmingham, he does NOT think they could play in the same team.
Casiraghi, 49, said: “Icardi is more of an out-and-out striker than Kane because he often plays in the box while Kane can move himself around the pitch.
Kane is a modern striker that always helps the team. He’s the best one in England. They are perfect central strikers for their own team in a 4-2-3-1 system. For this reason, in my opinion, they couldn’t play together.”
Francesco Baiano, 50, scored 45 league goals for Foggia and Fiorentina, where he played with legendary Argentinian Gabriel Batistuta.
Baiano, who also spent three years at Derby County, said: “We are talking about two of the best players of the world in their position.
“Physically, Kane has more power and can play not just in the box. They could play together thanks to the traditional English No 9 being available to move himself in different positions with Icardi always in the box.
“If I have to choose one, I say Kane. However, neither is as amazing as Batistuta.”
Francesco Graziani, 65, was a tough striker in the 1970s and 1980s with Fiorentina, Roma and Udinese.
He scored 132 league goals and was a World Cup winner with Italy in 1982. Graziani, forced off with an injury just seven minutes into the 3-1 final win over West Germany, said: “I really like Kane.
"He plays for himself and the team in the same time. He can play in the box but also outside, helping his team-mates.
“Icardi is an animal in the box and one of the best three No 9s playing close to the goal. He needs to play alone in attack and, for this reason, they can’t be together.
“Between them, I choose Kane —and I adore Spurs!”
Former Udinese star Antonio Di Natale, 41, bagged 209 goals in Serie A and 11 in 42 appearances for Italy.
Now a striker coach with Serie B side Spezia, he said: “Icardi scores a lot while Kane does the same but also plays for the team.
"For this reason, I would prefer the Englishman. But they could play together and I’d very much like to train such amazing players.”
