High after his Champions League title with him Chelsea, N’Golo Kanté He claimed this Sunday to be “just someone normal.” Delighted with the “sometimes exaggerated” praise about him, he refuses to think about a hypothetical Ballon d’Or before playing the European Championship with Bleus.
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How do you experience the effervescence around you after a great season finale?
I live it by taking distances. We had a nice end to the season to play with Chelsea, aiming to qualify in the Top 4 in the Premier and the Champions League final. We were focused on that. Everything was good for me and for the team. Above all that is said, I don’t pay much attention. I focus on the goals of the club and the national team.
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They talk about you as the ideal footballer, as someone particularly nice …
It is true that I can have an image, too beautiful. In the end, I am just a normal person, a player among so many others. It goes without saying that I am the kindest or the friendliest, I am like the rest. I think sometimes they go too far on that. No reason to be. It is true that I like to get along with my teammates, to have a good relationship with the people I deal with, both on the street and in football, but there are other people in football who are like that. You don’t have to do a whole story about it. Sometimes it is exaggerated and it is not necessary.
Do you deserve the Ballon d’Or?
It’s a bit too early to talk about it now. We have reached the middle of the year and there are six months left, many games to play. It’s no use saying I deserve it today. A few years ago I was in the top ten. It was the first time and that’s why I liked it. But winning it is another story. It is a beautiful individual reward for a player, but I see it as the result of a season, it is not necessarily a goal or something that I work for. It would simply be the reward of a beautiful season. Those who have won it are players who have done great things throughout their careers
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