Passed and omnipresent, France midfielder N’Golo Kante was once again impressive for Chelsea against Lille (2-0) on Tuesday in the eighth second leg of the Champions League, with Renato Sanchez the only resident of Lille rising to the level of the Blues. . .
The 30-year-old France international was once again in the oven and at the factory to cut Lille’s passing lines and launch the London attacks. In one, he broke through the North’s defense to deliver caviar to Christian Pulisic, who sheltered the reigning European champion after an hour (63).
The Frenchman commented with his usual humility on the Canal + Sport microphone, while welcoming Lille’s beautiful match: “I am glad that I contributed to the second goal to give the team preference.” The difference, they put us in difficulty.”
Among these crucial players, Sanchez was: Uncertain before the match due to another muscle imbalance, the Portuguese international (24) played one of his best matches this season, in the role of a very free winger, even if he could not. Prevent defeat mastiff.
Kanté, who was held in high esteem by coach Thomas Tuchel, whose contract expired in June 2023, has shown that he is a key player in the Blues’ midfield.
The compatriot Roel Malmaison (Hauts-de-Seine), named man of the best in the Champions League final he won against Manchester City last spring, was once again valuable and highly accurate on Tuesday with 91% successful passes.
But once is not a habit, he was confronted by an aggressive Lil and won by less than half of his duels (6/13). However, that wasn’t enough to tarnish the impressive performance.
Kante smiled: “By scoring the second goal, we are putting ourselves in a good position for the first match, and I hope we can secure the second leg.”
– Sanchez’s little revenge –
One of the Lille midfielders who rose to his level was Sanchez: The Portugal international, who only played eight minutes for a month, on Friday against Metz after missing games in Montpellier and against Paris, had ants in his legs at Stamford Bridge and they were superb from Technical aspect.
Despite the poor start to the North game, playing 4-5-1 instead of the usual 4-4-2, Sanchez, positioned on the right wing, was the only one, thanks to his technical quality, to manage to hold the ball and cause problems for experienced Londoners, as in This action where he resisted three Blues including Kante before sending the ball to Amadou Onana who missed serving (33).
Half an hour into the match, he exchanged with Jonathan Bamba and moved to the left wing. He continued to martyr Chelsea players, such a rush that Cesar Azpilicueta tried everything to stop him, even pulling his shirt, without success. But the Portuguese shot above (40).
Returning to the right in the second half, the mastiff was the only innovative and spared no effort. Despite the lack of rhythm, he still accelerated over 60 metres before Pulisic narrowly seized him in the 73rd minute, shortly before making way for Hatem Ben Arfa (81).
This impressive performance is a small revenge for the Lisbon-trained Benfica player, who failed to impress in the Premier League during his one-year loan to Swansea in 2017-18. With just one pass and without a goal in 16 matches for the Welsh side in all competitions, Sanchez returned to Bayern Munich without confidence or certainty. He also confirmed Sanchez’s penchant for “picking” his matches.
Kante and Sanchez will meet again in three weeks for the second leg in Lille, this time they could be direct opponents if the Portuguese regains his midfield position. It promises!
