JAKARTA - The 2020-21 Champions League Final which took place at Portugal's Estadio Do Dragao, Sunday, May 30, brought together two representatives from the English League, namely Manchester City against Chelsea. There is one interesting thing in this match, namely the meeting between two best friends, Riyad Mahrez and N'Golo Kante.
Yes, Mahrez and Kante have known each other for a long time, to be precise when they both built careers from below at a small French club. Mahrez in Le Havre, and Kante in Caen.
The struggle of these two players, started in 2013, at which time Le Havre and Caen were still struggling in Ligue 2, aka the second tier of French football competition. In the 2013-14 season, both Mahrez and Kante played very brilliantly at their respective clubs.
Mahrez played half a season with Le Havre and managed to score two goals and three assists in 17 matches. Thanks to this slick appearance, Mahrez was brought to Leicester City in January 2014, where the club was fighting for promotion to the Premier League, aka currently in the Championship Division.
So what about Kante? The player who is expected to play like Claude Makelele helps Caen promotion to Ligue 1 after making 42 appearances in Ligue 2 2013-14.
One season he felt playing in Ligue 1 with Caen (2014-15). After that, Leicester City attracted to bring him in the summer of 2015, this is where the two friends were reunited.
And instantly the names of Mahrez and Kante were immediately aligned with the world's top players. Why? Because both were key players when Leicester won the 2015-16 Premier League season.
Together with Jamie Vardy, Robert Huth, Wes Morgan, Danny Drinkwater etc., they got rid of giant clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea in the race for the Premier League title.
Kante also made Chelsea interested in bringing him. The French national team midfielder finally moved to Chelsea in the summer of 2016.
Mahrez at that time, reportedly was devastated by the abandonment of his best friend. However, in the end Riyad Mahrez followed Kante's footsteps by leaving Leicester City.
In the summer of 2018, the Algerian footballer left for Manchester City. Mahrez's career was getting uphill and finally got to the point of bringing The Citizens champions and penetrating the Champions League final.
Kante, however, must keep Mahrez's movement well. The agile winger has recorded four goals and two assists in the Champions League this season.
But outside of any team that will lift the Champions League trophy, the two will certainly continue to hug warmly before and after the match. Their struggle to tread a career, can even be said to be more valuable than the trophy itself.
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