Chelsea Midfielder Suffers Injury Before France Win

N’Golo Kante picked up an injury in the warm-up before France defeated Iceland 1-0 in the European Championship Qualifying 2020 in Reykjavik.

The midfielder suffered from a muscle injury and was immediately replaced in the starting XI by Moussa Sissoko. His fellow Chelsea player, Olivier Giroud lifted the Frenchmen after he converted a penalty kick to give them the 1-0 victory. The goal was Giroud’s 37^th in the international set-up.

Kante has suffered from various fitness issues already this season, and the recent incident will give Chelsea boss Frank Lampard something to worry about. Kante was seen limping off the field while warming up ahead of their game Friday night.

The France international has only featured four times for the Blues eight Premier League games. He scored against Liverpool last month and was part of the 4-1 victory over Southampton.

Earlier Lampard called up France manager, Didier Deschamps regarding the selection of Kante in the French national team. Deschamps, a former Chelsea player himself took a little bit of a swipe at Lampard and said, “Lampard had asked me not to pick Kante at the last break,” Deschamps told a press conference.

“If that is still the way I am going to call him later to tell him it would be nice if you play Olivier Giroud a little bit!”

Lampard also addressed this issue after Chelsea won over Brighton.

“My feeling is that he has played a lot and that’s because he has been so successful and so important to the teams he has been in,” he said.

“At the minute, he has injuries.

“This little niggle he had is a small, small injury. We just need to get it right. We are just careful and it is my duty to work with him. The medical team are working so hard with him.” Lampard added.

France remains in the second position in Group H, and are six points ahead of Iceland who sits in third. Turkey beat Albania 1-0 and are the leader in the group.