Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher believes N'Golo Kante could go down in history as one of the Premier League's greatest players of all-time after his stunning performance in the UEFA Champions League final against Manchester City last night.
The Chelsea midfielder, who won his respective fitness battle in the build-up to the contest at the Estadio do Dragao, produced an outstanding performance in the middle of the park, as Kai Havertz's first half strike sealed a 1-0 win for the Blues to lead them to their first Champions League crown in nine years.
Whilst Havertz will be remembered as the match-winning hero, with his goal three minutes before half time ensuring that they earned their first piece of silverware of the Thomas Tuchel era, Kante's performance was nothing short of exceptional. He was everywhere on the pitch, blocking City's counter-attacks, instigating Chelsea's own attacks and even threatening to get himself on the scoresheet, which is a rarity in his case.
It was a performance to look back on in years to come, that is how good Kante was. It also scooped him the Man of the Match award for the third Champions League game running, after his heroic performances in both legs of the semi-final showdown against Real Madrid.
After the celebrations had died down, CBS Sports pundit Carragher hailed the France international's performance, insisting he could go down in history as one of the Premier League's best ever players.
Carragher told CBS Sports: "Before the game, we all got together and thought that, maybe, City would just edge, or have certainly got the better team and are the favourites.
"He [Kante] was the one player that we said would go straight into the Manchester City team.
"Now, this is a guy that has come to the English Premier League and in his first season won a title at Leicester, then won a title at Chelsea, won a World Cup, won an FA Cup and now he has won a Champions League.
"This guy, when he finishes [retires from playing], I think he will be spoken about one of the greatest players, or perhaps one of the greatest midfield players, that the English Premier League has seen.
"He has got the World Cup and could possibly have the Euros this summer as well."
Whilst Carragher hailed Kante's overall influence and capabilities, fellow CBS Sports pundit and former Manchester City defender Micah Richards waxed lyrical about the Chelsea midfielder's performance against City.
Richards described his showing as "sensational" and completely understood why he had scooped the Man of the Match accolade.
"He was sensational and everywhere on the pitch. He covered every blade of grass," Richards said.
"Look at his work rate and his desire to get there. I mean, every counter-attack City had he just snuffed it out. He plays forward and what he does is, he does the simple things really well.
"When we spoke about the people who were going to have an influence on this game, Kante was always going to be right up there, defensively. I know it was sad to see [Kevin] De Bruyne go off, but he was the star of the show time and time again."
