Rio Ferdinand has waxed lyrical over Chelsea full-back Reece James after this evening's Champions League win.
The Blues defeated Pep Guardiola's Manchester City to secure their second Champions League title, adding to the glory of 2012 when they won their first, in Munich.
Kai Havertz scored the winner in Porto, latching onto the end of a Mason Mount through ball before rounding Ederson and slotting into an empty net.
But among many impressive individual performances, Reece James was one player who stood out, and former Manchester United defender turned BT Sport pundit Ferdinand has praised the full-back after the game.
“I have to talk about someone like Reece James because he’s a product of the youth academy," he said.
"We spoke about a lot of players, Mason Mount and [Phil] Foden before - and rightly so - but there have been question marks about him (Reece James), not only in a Chelsea shirt, but in an England shirt, should he be involved or not because there’s a great amount of right-backs in this country.
"He’s performed today on the biggest stage and he was the standout. Immense.”
James put in an excellent performance, keeping Raheem Sterling quiet and helping to limit Manchester City to very few opportunities from their left-hand side.
The England international has been excellent this season, nailing down the right-back spot with Cesar Azpilicueta moving inside to be part of the centre-back unit.
The performance in Porto was pivotal to Chelsea winning the Champions League, and it will also help his case when it comes to winning a starting spot for England at Euro 2020 amid a difficult battle for that spot going into this summer.
