Cédric Chasseur // Photo credits: Nigel Keene / ProSportsImages / DPPI via AFP
N’Golo Kanté still covers kilometers and recovers tons of balls: the France team found its “favorite” from 2018, uncompromising in the first match of Euro-2024 against Austria (1-0). Good news for the Blues, stunned by Kylian Mbappé’s broken nose. Kanté, elected man of the match Monday evening in Düsseldorf, always watches over the four corners of the pitch.
Back for this Euro with the French team after two years of absence and an exile in Saudi Arabia (Al-Ittihad), N’Golo Kanté is still the “darling” of the French public, but also that of the players of his own training . The 2018 world champion returned to the Blues through the front door with his fantastic performance against the Austrians (1-0) during the Blues’ first match in the competition, to the delight of his teammates, such as midfielder Adrien Rabiot. “He is amazing with everything he does on the pitch. He is someone who never complains. Obviously, we can only be happy to have him with us,” said the midfielder of Juventus.
“It’s nice to find my abilities again”
However, one might have thought that N’Golo Kanté was lost to high-level football after two years without wearing the blue jersey. Injuries, exile in Saudi Arabia, nothing allowed us to believe in such a destiny for the man with 56 national team caps. At 33, the return only has more flavor. “It’s nice to regain my abilities and feel good. There’s a lot of praise, but we do the work together, we fight together,” reported the French player on Europe 1. And N’Golo Kanté can boast of good results. Lucky charm for the Blues in official competition, with only two defeats in 37 matches, he also won four of his five clashes against the Netherlands.