WEMBLEY — Only Harry Kane can drizzle such doses of magic onto the most tepid England victories.

There are many reasons why the Three Lions captain is a Ballon d’Or winner, but his ability to play such visionary passes is unrivalled. He was doing it for years at Tottenham Hotspur before his brilliance was fully recognised at Bayern Munich – and the one he pulled off before the first goal against Croatia was as good as his recent cutthroat pass through Arsenal in the Champions League.

No other forward in the world right now is capable of doing it so spectacularly, so often.

If not for Kane’s special night as he was recognised as England’s record cap-holder, it would have been a forgettable game. Certainly chalk and cheese from that thumping 7-0 win over the same opponents in October.

Croatia did not try to be inspiring, only insipid. England’s embarrassment of riches in attack continues to prevail even against sides determined to frustrate. It was an exquisite pass from Kane that unpicked them and showed exactly why he has been crowned the greatest player on the planet.

The opener was perhaps one of the ugliest goals England have scored in recent memory. Josko Gvardiol made a mess of Jude Bellingham’s ball in for Morgan Rogers – yet it was Kane’s pass in the build-up, sprayed out to the right from a deeper role to find Bellingham, that really cut open Croatia.

“It’s an area of the pitch I like to play in, that kind of left pocket,” Kane said afterwards.

“The more I play with the guys, the more relationship I build up with Jude and Morgan and Trent and whoever’s playing. They know that when I’m in that position, I’m probably going to play that type of ball so you see the way they make the runs. Passing is a big strength of mine, it’s something that I practised a lot when I was young and still do now. You’ve seen over recent years especially that it’s been a big weapon.”

That good work was almost undone by a hapless moment from Jarell Quansah as he headed a corner back towards Jordan Pickford and into the path of Petar Sucic. There was nothing a retreating Kane could have done about that, but he did put England back in front from the spot within five minutes after Quansah was pulled down by Ivan Smolcic.

The penalty was Kane’s 27th for England and his 92nd international goal. Those numbers are just as remarkable as the historic 126 caps. Luka Modric presented the captain with a historic Croatian football against a backdrop of a giant tifo unfurled at one end beneath the famous arch. If there is one veteran from whom Kane can take inspiration it is the 41-year-old.

After years of being criminally underappreciated, Kane is getting his flowers all at once. Before the summer it could not be said with any certainty whether he would be the man to lead England into the next European Championship. At the age of 33 he is showing no sign of slowing down.

Nor are Tuchel’s England. It is now 41 goals in 17 games this calendar year and 16 in five Nations League matches so far.

There is still a question mark over how England keep up momentum on nights like these when the whole game feels like it is being played in second gear. Tuchel did not use it to experiment with fringe players to the extent he might have done, though Ben White, Rio Ngumoha and James Garner were all given minutes from the bench. Garner even thought he had added a third before it was chalked off for offside.

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There should not have been any way to sour such a routine night at the office, until White was again needlessly booed by England fans.

It has become a tired trope that White does not want to play for his country when he has been brought back into the fold by a new manager, hinting that supporters “don’t know the full story” behind his past absences.

Time to move on – especially with uncertainty surrounding the defence. To get over the line, England required a late Quansah block and some wry finishing from Croatia – without which the visitors might have taken a sobering point to overshadow Kane’s big night.