Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel has revealed that having N'Golo Kante within his team is like having "two players," as well as admitting that his family loves to watch the French international.
Tuchel made the admission after watching his side fall to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of FC Porto in the second-leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final in Seville on Tuesday evening.
Despite Medhi Taremi's stunning late winner, it was not enough to stop the Blues from progressing to the semi-finals of the competition for the first time since 2014.
Describing what it meant for the club, boss Tuchel, addressing the media after the game, said: "It is a very big achievement. You see when Chelsea was last in the semi final. We are not used to being there. Once you are there, you play for the final. This is clear.
"We take every minute to learn and grow. You cannot improve without these experiences so we are doing it now during the process, while we are playing it. Yes, it is nice being on the sideline because you see all the effort.
"These games against Porto may not be the best to watch on TV but believe me it is a tough, tough side to play against.
"It is very physical, they hassle for every ball, they never let you turn or think for two seconds for other solutions. They put pressure on you, they are emotional so it is a lot to deal with and we went through.
"I am super happy, we will enjoy this evening."
As well as expressing his delight after guiding his side to the last-four of the competition, Tuchel also heaped praise on the shoulders of midfielder Kante. The Frenchman started the contest and was not expected to last the full 90 minutes after recently shaking off an injury complaint.
But much to everyone's surprise the former Leicester City star did manage to go the distance and produced a typical workmanlike performance in the engine room.
Unsurprisingly, Tuchel heaped praise on him after the full-time whistle and admitted that his family have taken a shine to his talents following his own arrival at Stamford Bridge towards the end of January.
"N'Golo is incredible; he is like one and a half or two players," Tuchel admitted. "Everybody who sees him for the first time loves him.
"All of my family love him when they watch our games now.
"It is so nice to have him and he gives everyone confidence."
Tuchel will be forced to call upon Kante to control his midfield once again at the weekend when the Blues face Manchester City in their FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, confirming that Croatian star Mateo Kovacic is almost certain to miss out through injury.
"It was very sad to see him yesterday [Monday] after 20 minutes in training, to have this little muscle injury from more or less out of nothing," said Tuchel.
"We played in the boxes for the second day after training [at Cobham] just to have a little sweat and he felt his hamstring.
"So I think, for sure, for the game against City he is out, it is a big loss. I was very sad for him because we don’t have so many experienced players that have played Champions League many times."
