N’Golo Kante has a piece up on the Chelsea website where he remembers some of his best matches with the club, and he has some funny memories of his first game for the Blues after signing.
After arriving from Leicester Kante was thrown straight into the action against West Ham in the opening game of the season. He had just won the league with Leicester so the Premier League wasn’t new to him, but as he recounts, he almost made the worst start to life at Stamford Bridge possible:
“My first game with Chelsea is something I look back on with fondness. It was a big game, a London derby against West Ham,” Kante recalled.
“I remember I got a yellow card and maybe I was lucky not to get a red card actually! I had already been booked and then I made a foul after but thankfully the referee didn’t sanction it with another yellow card.
“That was my debut, a special moment and my first time playing at Stamford Bridge with the Blues jersey on.
“Seeing the crowd and playing in front of them as a Chelsea player for the first time was very special and something I will always look back on with a lot of fondness.”
We remember that game too – sweltering August affair in Antonio Conte’s first match that Chelsea were lucky to win thanks to a late Diego Costa goal.
Kante was booked just 3 minutes into that game and into his Chelsea career, but after that his discipline improved. He never got a red card in his whole time at the club, and picked up 38 yellows in 269 games, not a bad record by any stretch given his role.
Adiós leyenda, formaste tu nombre con sangre azul.
Now, that’s a true blue, a legend true and true. We will always live you bro