The 30-year-old French international was once again in the oven and in the mill to cut the Lille passing lines and launch the London offensives.

On one of them, he pierced the northern defense to deliver a caviar to Christian Pulisic, who sheltered the reigning European champion on the hour mark (63rd).

Uncertain before the meeting due to yet another muscle glitch, Sanches (24) for his part had one of his best matches of the season, in a very free winger role, even if he did not was able to prevent the defeat of the Mastiffs.

Kanté, much appreciated by his coach Thomas Tuchel but who is out of contract in June 2023, has again shown that he is essential in the midfield of the "Blues".

The native of Rueil-Malmaison (Hauts-de-Seine), who was voted man of the match in the Champions League final won against Manchester City last spring, was again very valuable and accurate on Tuesday with 91% successful passes.

But once is not custom, he was physically jostled by aggressive Lille and won less than half of his duels (6/13).

However, that was not enough to tarnish a still remarkable performance.

Small revenge for Sanches

And one of the few Lille midfielders to rise to his level was Sanches: the Portuguese international, who had played only eight minutes for a month, Friday against Metz after missing the meetings in Montpellier and against Paris , had ants in the legs at Stamford Bridge and was technically impressive.

Lille midfielder Renato Sanches tries to score against Chelsea in the Champions League at Stamford Bridge, February 22, 2022 Glyn KIRK IKIMAGES/AFP

Despite the failed start to the match for the Northerners, who played in 4-5-1 instead of the usual 4-4-2, Sanches, positioned on the right wing, was the only one, thanks to his technical quality, to manage to keep the ball and to cause problems for the experienced Londoners, as in this action where he resisted three Londoners including Kanté before serving Amadou Onana, who missed his transmission (33rd).

Half an hour into the game, he swapped with Jonathan Bamba and moved to the left wing.

He continued to martyr Chelsea players, like this rush where Cesar Azpilicueta tried everything to stop him, even pulling his shirt, without succeeding.

But the Portuguese shot above (40th).

Returning to the right in the second half, he was the only creative Mastiff and spared no effort.

Despite the lack of rhythm, he still accelerated by more than 60 meters before being narrowly taken over by Pulisic in the 73rd minute, shortly before giving way to Hatem Ben Arfa (81st).

This fine performance is a small revenge for the player trained at Benfica Lisbon, who had not shone in the Premier League during his one-year loan to Swansea in 2017-2018.

With only one assist and no goal in 16 games in the jersey of the Welsh team in all competitions, Sanches returned to Bayern Munich without confidence or certainty.

It also confirmed Sanches' tendency to "pick" his matches.

Lille's Renato Sanches controlled the LOSC midfielder well against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, February 22, 2022 Glyn KIRK IKIMAGES / AFP

Kanté and Sanches will meet again in three weeks for the return match in Lille, where they could this time be direct opponents if the Portuguese regains his central midfield position.

And it promises!

© 2022 AFP