Chelsea FC took the crown of European club football in the English final of the Champions League against Manchester City on Saturday evening. Match winner Kai Havertz and trainer Thomas Tuchel understandably enjoy the greatest attention in this country. Last but not least, the victory was also a triumph for N’Golo Kante.
As is so often the case, the French midfielder of the Blues was omnipresent and an absolute key in the Chelsea playground. The fact that the Londoners barely let their favorite ManCity unfold had a lot to do with the usual intensive work of Kante against the ball. But anyone who regards the 2018 world champion as a pure destroyer is doing him an injustice. Because the 30-year-old shows a great understanding of the game even with the ball at his foot and plays a lot more clever balls than might be remembered after a game because other Chelsea players are responsible for spectacular offensive actions.
Third place among the betting providers
Due to the triumph in the final for the premier class and his achievements since Tuchel took office, Kante has now also become one of the biggest favorites for the award of the world footballer. British betting providers currently only have compatriot Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain and Robert Lewandowski from FC Bayern with a lower rate than Kante. Should he dominate with France at the EURO this summer, he could follow in Luka Modric’s footsteps. The Croatian from Real Madrid was named World Player of the Year in 2018 with the Ballon d’Or and the official FIFA award.
Man of the Match three times in a row
In doing so, he broke the duopoly between Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) and Cristiano Ronaldo (then Real Madrid, now Juventus), who probably do not have the best cards this year due to the weaknesses of their clubs. As a player without great statistics in front of the opposing goal, Kante must of course also be considered an outsider. Nevertheless, he recently collected strong arguments: Not only in the final against ManCity, but also in both semi-finals against Real Madrid, Kante was officially voted Man of the Match.
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