William Saliba hails N’Golo Kante as France beat Austria at Euro 2024 | Football

France secured a win in their Group D opener on Monday evening as Max Wober’s own goal seven minutes before half time was enough for Didier Deschamps’ side.

Kylian Mbappe missed an excellent one-on-one chance in the second half to double France’s lead before the Real Madrid forward was forced off in injury time with a broken nose.

Kante, meanwhile, delivered a sublime performance at the heart of France’s midfield and was named Man of the Match for his display, which was reminiscent of the ones he delivered at the 2018 World Cup when Les Bleus won the tournament.

Asked if he agreed that Kante had given a ‘monster’ performance after France’s win, Saliba said: ‘Yes, of course.

‘You just have to look at what he did,’ Deschamps said of Kante.

‘I took him for that. From the moment I was certain that he had recovered all his athletic abilities… he has tactical intelligence, the ability to recover balls, to project himself.

‘Obviously he was brilliant today and so much the better because we needed that.

‘He wasn’t alone, he was very well supported by Adrien Rabiot who also had a big game and Antoine [Griezmann] who was a little more concerned with the midfield area. But ‘NG’, he is radiant, he shone.’

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