Stade Michel d'Ornano in Caen is a long way from Porto's Estadio do Dragao. To be precise, it's 1,573 kilometers in the unlikely event you ever have the urge to drive across Portugal and Spain, then all the way up to Normandy in northern France.
In terms of staging posts within a career, second tier French football in 2013-14 and the 2021 Champions League final are a million miles apart. But this is the journey Riyad Mahrez and N'Golo Kante have taken, almost stride for stride, as they wait to contest the European club game's greatest prize.
A look at Ligue 2's YouTube highlights from the first time the Manchester City winger and Chelsea midfielder faced one another on September 27, 2013, when Caen hosted Le Havre, reveals a few very familiar traits.
Kante can be seen bustling around with intent from the right of Caen's midfield three, although three-minute condensed match clips are obviously not the best medium for showcasing his qualities.
Mahrez created Le Havre's best first-half chance with a cute throughball, almost snuck in a cheeky free-kick at the near post and then did that first touch. You know the one – kills a cross-field ball stone dead with the outside of his left boot, twists the defender inside out and gets a shot off.
That attempt was saved, however, and a Faycal Fajr penalty after Le Havre's Zargo Toure was sent off gave Caen a 1-0 win. They would go on to secure promotion, beginning a remarkable mid-decade run of success for Kante, irrespective of which team he happened to be representing.
But Mahrez was the first to escape Ligue 2, joining Leicester City midway through the campaign and similarly earning promotion from the Championship.
After an improbable escape from relegation in 2014-15, Leicester parted company with manager Nigel Pearson and appointed Claudio Ranieri. Kante was one of his close-season signings, with Caen pocketing £5.6m, and the rest is gloriously improbable history.
That was a hefty outlay compared to the £400,000 Leicester sent Le Havre's way for Mahrez, who finished the Foxes' Premier League-winning campaign in 2015-16 with 17 goals, 11 assists and the PFA Players' Player of the Year award.
While the Algeria winger won the approval of his fellow professionals and Jamie Vardy's astonishing rise from non-league to the top of the English game earned him the FWA Footballer of the Year prize, the biggest revelation was arguably Kante.
"This player Kante, he was running so hard that I thought he must have a pack of batteries hidden in his shorts," Ranieri told the Players' Tribune.
"I tell him, 'One day, I'm going to see you cross the ball and then finish the cross with a header yourself!'."
A run to the final of Euro 2016 followed with France, and Kante was the one jewel of the Leicester triumph to depart in its immediate afterglow. He joined Chelsea for £32m, helped to drive Antonio Conte's men to the Premier League title and cleaned up at the end of season awards.
Twelve months later, he was a world champion as France romped to glory at Russia 2018. Kante was football's sure thing, at club or international level. And yet, in hindsight, the full palate of his qualities were perhaps a touch under-appreciated.
All eulogies came back to that insatiable work-rate, that battery pack in the shorts. Maurizio Sarri's installation as Antonio Conte's successor at Stamford Bridge, bringing with him his cerebral deep-lying playmaker Jorginho, would mean a change of pace.
In his two seasons under Conte, Kante made 127 and 113 tackles. This was down from terrifyingly relentless 175 (winning 71.4 per cent – his best success rate in the Premier League) in that season at Leicester, which does much to explain how his reputation was established and remained in the popular imagination.
In 2018-19, his tackles number fell to 74 and it has never returned to previous levels under Frank Lampard or Thomas Tuchel. But as a shuttling midfield presence under Sarri, his 73 touches in the opposition box that season were more than in his entire Premier League career up until that point, with four goals and four assists his reward.
Where some feared Jorginho's arrival would shove Kante out of his preferred position, they now operate very effectively in tandem and will probably do so against City. For all that the former Napoli man is charged with setting the tempo, Kante remains tidily efficient in possession. His pass completion in every season at the Bridge tracks between 85 and 89 per cent.
The 30-year-old stamped his presence all over the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid and was named man of the match for both legs in a 3-1 aggregate triumph. During the second encounter in London, Kante made five interceptions – only bettered by six from Jorginho – but also made more passes in the opposition half (25) and created more chances (three) than any other Chelsea player.
This week in Porto, UEFA is displaying the Champions League trophy in a public square opposite Jardim de Joao Chagas. The shimmering prize is flanked by a City shirt bearing Kevin De Bruyne's name and number. The Chelsea jersey has Kante on the back. He is unquestionably one of the main attractions and keys to victory this weekend.
The same can be said for Mahrez, although his adjustment to life in Manchester was not as seamless as Kante's in England's capital.
As his old team-mate adapted to Sarri, Mahrez struggled to take on board Guardiola's demands having got the £60m move he had long craved. However, his 2019-20 returns showed improvements, with 11 Premier League goals and nine assists – up from seven and four a year earlier. Waiting patiently on the right-wing for his team-mates to disrupt opponents and leave him with one-on-one duels was different to the freedom he enjoyed at Leicester but starting to pay dividends.
He is now one of Guardiola's go-to men, came second behind Ruben Dias in City's player of the year poll and is a scorer of heavy goals.
When the Champions League quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund was on the line, 2-2 on aggregate with his team heading out on away goals at Signal Iduna Park, Mahrez slammed home a high-pressure penalty after an interminable VAR delay. He went on to score a goal in each leg as Paris Saint-Germain were swept aside 4-1 on aggregate, including the winner through a disintegrating defensive wall at the Parc des Princes.
"Riyad always was at a good level," Guardiola said earlier this month. "Maybe at the beginning he didn’t play much in the first season because we already had a structure with Leroy [Sane] and the other ones, but step by step he regained his position.
"Lately he has been playing really good and hopefully he can maintain this level."
At the other end of the square where Kante's shirt stands alongside the trophy he hopes to lift this weekend, UEFA have installed a merchandise stall where a shirt to commemorate the all-English final will set you back €60.
That amounts to fleecing that could not be further away from the value for money Leicester enjoyed when they plucked Mahrez and Kante from France and set them on the path to Porto.
De Bruyne ready to take centre-stage on Man City return
Kevin De Bruyne is confident he will be fit and firing upon his return to Manchester City after starring in Belgium's opening fixture of their Nations League campaign.
De Bruyne scored twice in the Red Devils' 3-1 win over Israel on Friday, taking his international tally to 30 goals in 106 appearances since his debut in 2010.
He contributed an expected goals (xG) tally of 1.64 to Belgium's total of 3.53, also playing more passes in the final third (34) than any other player on the pitch.
Domenico Tedesco's side travel to Lyon on Monday to face France, who were beaten 3-1 by Italy in their opening fixture in Group A2, with De Bruyne in line to start again.
The 33-year-old has started the season with a goal and an assist in three Premier League appearances, both coming during City's 4-1 win against Ipswich Town.
De Bruyne has also created 11 chances so far in English football's top flight, a total only bettered by Dwight McNeil (13) and Andreas Pereira (14).
But when questioned whether City manager Pep Guardiola would be happy with him playing back-to-back 90 minutes, De Bruyne said: "You'll have to ask him!
"Well, as long as I feel good, it's okay and it's up to the coach to decide. After France, I have six days before the next match with City."
Belgium will be looking to avenge their Euro 2024 defeat to Didier Deschamps' side, having been knocked out at the last-16 stage by Jan Vertonghen's late own goal.
After the Red Devils' meeting with France, they will face Italy and Les Bleus again next month, concluding their group campaign against the Azzurri and Israel in November.
"When you play six group games, every game is important," De Bruyne added. "We only have two days to rest and get ready. But the pressure will be on them now."
Despite their victory over Israel on Friday, head coach Tedesco was left wanting more from his players ahead of their stern test against France.
"We started well and scored straight away, but after the goal we lost some of our self-confidence", said Tedesco.
"Fortunately, we were sharper after the break, showed courage with vertical football and high pressure, in order to create quite a few chances again. That is a positive sign."
Spalletti sees new intensity in Italy's play as France stunned
Luciano Spalletti said Italy had shown a new level of intensity in their Nations League opener after they stunned France with a 3-1 comeback win at the Parc des Princes.
Italy found themselves a goal down inside 12 seconds on Friday as Bradley Barcola dispossessed Giovanni Di Lorenzo before finishing coolly, but Federico Dimarco's brilliant volleyed equaliser precipitated a stirring fightback.
Davide Frattesi put the Azzurri ahead early in the second half, then Giacomo Raspadori completed the scoring as Italy claimed their first-ever win at the Parc des Princes.
The Azzurri had previously drawn three and lost one of their four matches at the venue, only scoring two goals, while they had not beaten France since doing so in the group stage at Euro 2008.
Italy endured a dismal Euro 2024 campaign, scraping through their group before being dumped out by Switzerland in the last 16, but Spalletti saw a different side to his players on Friday.
"I saw an intensity during training that we didn't have last time," Spalletti said. "Perhaps the players' physical shape had a role.
"The season has just started, and there is new enthusiasm. The other time, it was the end [of the season], and there had been things that perhaps led some to switch off.
"They bounced back tonight. Regardless of how this game went, we would have continued playing forever.
"It's in the DNA of this group I've chosen for the Nations League and the World Cup qualifiers.
"Three, four or five players have stayed home this time, but generally we are convinced that this group can give us so much."
Italy's victory was marred somewhat by Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori being injured by a crunching tackle by Ousmane Dembele, with the former Bologna man writing in pain before being helped from the field.
Spalletti, however, is hopeful the injury may not prove to be a serious one.
"We need to assess Riccardo, but with our staff, we have a good chance to have him back with us for the next game," Spalletti said.
Italy face Israel in their next match in Group A2 on Monday, with France hosting Belgium in another heavyweight tussle on the same day.
St Lucia, St Maarten, Grenada, Haiti register contrasting League B wins
St Lucia, St Maarten, Grenada, and Haiti all opened their 2024/25 Concacaf Nations League accounts with victories in League B on Friday.
Grenada blanked St Martin 2-0, and St Lucia edged Curacao 2-1 in the Group B double-header at Kirani James Athletics Stadium.
Over in Group C, Haiti were 4-1 winners over Puerto Rico, and St Maarten blanked Aruba 2-0 at Estadio Centroamericano in Puerto Rico.
St Lucia vs. Curaçao
In what was the first-ever Nations League encounter between the two nations, St Lucia were the better team on the day.
Arkell Jude-Boyd broke the deadlock for St Lucia in the 24th when he fended off a defender on his way to poking an effort through the legs of Eloy Room in goal for Curacao to make it 1-0 at the break.
Jude-Boyd went close to extending the lead in the second half, but Room came up big for Curacao on that occasion.
However, St Lucia inevitably doubled the lead in the 55th through Caniggia Elva, who finished off a loose ball.
Curacao pulled one back in the 63rd when Joshua Brenet fired home from Leandro Bacuna’s pass.
St Maarten vs. Aruba
St Maarten and Aruba failed to separate themselves for most of the contest, as their respective goalkeepers Tyrell Richardson and Matthew Lentink were in good knick between the sticks.
It wasn’t until the 81st that Gerwin Lake broke the deadlock for St Maarten when he rifled an effort past Lentink, who had no chance at a save on that occasion.
Ronan Olivacce added a second for St Maarten in the 90+3, with an easy tap-in from Chovanie Amatkarijo’s pass.
St Martin vs. Grenada
Grenada were always favoured to secure the three points and that they did.
It took them only five minutes to open the scoring as Lucas Akins capitalised on a defensive error.
The menacing Regan Charles-Cook made the points safe when he tucked home from close range in the 38th minute.
St Martin tried to stay in the contest but found Grenada’s defence and goalkeeper Chad Phillip in defiant mode.
Puerto Rico vs. Haiti
After being relegated from League A, Haiti is intent of getting back to the top and they demonstrated that with a comfortable beating of Puerto Rico.
Interestingly, it was Puerto Rico that struck first in the 29th when Gerald Diaz fired home from a rebound.
Haiti responded with a second half flurry, which was started by Danley Jean Jacques in the 51st.
Frantzdy Pierrot added a second in the 60th, taking his Nations League tally to eight goals, before Don Louicius finished off a tidy team build up in the 76th to put Haiti 3-1 up.
Duckens Nazon then capped the win with an 83rd-minute strike to put Haiti on course for promotion.
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