N’Golo Kante further cemented his status as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation with a magnificent individual performance for Chelsea in the 2021 Champions League final against Manchester City,

The Frenchman worked tirelessly over the course of the 90 minutes - as he always does - and thoroughly deserved to lift the European Cup for the first time.

Furthermore, Kante also received the official 2021 Champions League Player of the Match (PotM) award after the final whistle for his masterclass in midfield.

UEFA have now published a list of every PotM (or Man of the Match, as it’s more commonly known) winner from this season’s Champions League knockout rounds.

And it probably won’t come as a huge surprise to learn that Kante received more MOTM awards than any other player competing in the latter stages of the Champions League this term.

2021 Champions League Man of the Match winners

Here’s the list in full…

Round of 16

First legs

16/02: Leipzig 0-2 Liverpool – Mohamed Salah
16/02: Barcelona 1-4 PSG – Kylian Mbappé
17/02: Porto 2-1 Juventus - Sérgio Oliveira
17/02: Sevilla 2-3 Dortmund – Erling Haaland
23/02: Lazio 1-4 Bayern – Robert Lewandowski
23/02: Atlético 0-1 Chelsea – Olivier Giroud
24/02: Mönchengladbach 0-2 Manchester City – João Cancelo
24/02: Atalanta 0-1 Real Madrid – Ferland Mendy

Second legs

09/03: Juventus 3-2 Porto – Sérgio Oliveira
09/03: Dortmund 2-2 Sevilla – Erling Haaland
10/03: Liverpool 2-0 Leipzig – Fabinho
10/03: PSG 1-1 Barcelona – Keylor Navas
16/03: Manchester City 2-0 Mönchengladbach – Kevin De Bruyne
16/03: Real Madrid 3-1 Atalanta – Luka Modrić
17/03: Bayern 2-1 Lazio – Joshua Kimmich
17/03: Chelsea 2-0 Atlético – N'Golo Kanté

Quarter-finals

First legs

06/04: Manchester City 2-1 Dortmund – Kevin De Bruyne
06/04: Real Madrid 3-1 Liverpool – Vinícius Júnior
07/04: Porto 0-2 Chelsea – Jorginho
07/04: Bayern 2-3 PSG – Kylian Mbappé

Second legs

13/04: PSG 0-1 Bayern – Neymar
13/04: Chelsea 0-1 Porto – Christian Pulišić
14/04: Liverpool 0-0 Real Madrid – Casemiro
14/04: Dortmund 1-2 Manchester City – İlkay Gündoğan

Semi-finals

First legs

27/04: Real Madrid 1-1 Chelsea – N'Golo Kanté
28/04: PSG 1-2 Man. City – Kevin De Bruyne

Second legs

04/05: Man. City 2-0 PSG – Rúben Dias
05/05: Chelsea 2-0 Real Madrid – N'Golo Kanté

Final

29/05: Man. City 0-1 Chelsea – N'Golo Kanté

Kante: 2021 Ballon d'Or winner?

As you can see, Kante was named PotM in the Round of 16 second leg against Atletico, plus both of the semi-finals against Real Madrid, and the final itself against Man City.

That’s quite remarkable. The World Cup winner is unquestionably one of football’s ultimate big-game players.

Following Chelsea’s second Champions League triumph, many fans on social media have called for Kante to win the 2021 Ballon d’Or award.

If the 30-year-old manages to inspire France to glory at Euro 2020, he would surely become the favourite to win football’s most prestigious individual accolade.

Chelsea win Champions League - Reaction (Football Terrace)