In the early morning of July 2, Beijing time, in a key battle in the 1/8 finals of the European Cup, France relied on an own goal and finally eliminated Belgium 1-0, returning to the top 8 stage after 8 years. In this game, right-back Jules Kounde was voted the best player of the game, and N'Golo Kante, who played in the midfield position, also performed well, unbeaten in 12 consecutive appearances, and also set a record in the history of the European Cup.
This is the only matchup between the giants in the round of 16 stage of the European Cup, the French team is worth as much as 1.23 billion euros, second only to England, and the second in the latest world rankings, and the Belgian team is worth about 585 million euros, ranking eighth, and the latest world ranking is ranked third.
The two sides are close in the world rankings, but France is firmly in control of the game in this game, Belgium put the bus to defend with all their might, and the goal is to find the goal through defensive counter-attacks, which also makes the task of Kante, who is responsible for defensive interceptions, a heavy task.
In the first half, N'Golo Kante was solid at both ends of the pitch and did not give Belgium a chance, with only one shot on target in the team, and in the second half, Kante did a good job in defense and also contributed in attack, with Muani's shot causing Vertonghen to set himself up an own goal, thanks in part to N'Golo Kante's pass.
Kounde didn't hesitate to play a pass back in the box, but Kante pushed it directly to Muani in the box, who turned and fired a shot into Vertonghen's body and into the far corner.
It can be said that if Kante chooses to pass back to his team-mates behind him, then there will be no own goal to break the deadlock, showing that Kante's excellent passing footwork is not just good at defensive interceptions.
In the end, France eliminated Belgium with this own goal in front of 45,000 fans in front of the stadium, and Kante and his teammates walked to the sidelines to celebrate with the fans after the game.
According to statistics, N'Golo Kante started the whole game, with 68 touches, a pass completion rate of 95%, and completed 2 key passes, 1 successful dribble, 1 successful cross, 8 duels 4 successes, 2 tackles, and a post-match rating of 7.3 points.
With this victory, N'Golo Kante is unbeaten in the European Championships, with seven wins and five draws (excluding penalty shootouts) in 12 European Championships, officially surpassing Xavi and becoming the player with the most unbeaten appearances in the European Championships, setting a 64-year record.
Last summer, Kante went to Saudi Arabia to play, and after a season, it was not to retire in the past, but to alleviate poverty, for which coach Didier Deschamps overrode the public opinion and recalled the 33-year-old Kante to the national team, who is also the only French international from a team in the top five European leagues in this European Championship, and also proved that he is worthy of the main position with his outstanding performance.