Camavinga vs Kante - Chelsea star returns to form in time to face successor
At the midway stage of the Champions League, the groups are starting to take shape. For Chelsea, they currently lead the way in Group E on goal difference following their 3-0 win over Rennes earlier this month. The return clash is this evening, with Rennes looking to exact revenge and make one final push for a spot in the knockout stages.
The difference between tonight's meeting and the encounter in west London at the beginning of November is the availability of Eduardo Camavinga. The teenager has made only one Champions League appearance in his debut season in the competition, that coming in the 1-1 draw with Russian side Krasnodar last month.
Injury saw Camavinga miss subsequent outings against Sevilla and Chelsea, but the 18-year-old will look to make up for lost time when Rennes welcome the Blues to Roazhon Park. The Champions League was supposed to provide the ideal platform for Camavinga to showcase his immense talent, so to have been restricted to just one appearance is a blow for both player and club.
Now Rennes are playing catch up, starting with the welcome of an in-form Chelsea. The availability of Camavinga is a huge boost in the Ligue 1 side's quest to dent Chelsea's push for a spot in the next round of the competition, but the major talking point comes in the key battle in the middle of the park between international teammates.
Camavinga is seen by some as the heir to N'Golo Kante's France throne in the middle of the park, but the old guard isn't letting up easily. Kante has been a revelation for the west London side following his return to the base of the Chelsea midfield and the Blues star looks back to his ball winning best that saw him shoot to prominence in the first place.
Kante ranks first for tackles and interceptions combined (52) in the Premier League this season having finished 2019/20 with 88 tackles and interceptions, that enough to rank 58th in England's top tier. It's clear the Frenchman has hit top form to alleviate the pressure on the Chelsea defence and the crunch clash in tonight's Champions League tie in Brittany very much comes when compatriots Camavinga and Kante lock horns.
Comparing the stats of the two from league and European duties, Camavinga (3.4) egdes Kante (2.5) in the tackles per 90 metric with the former maximising his ability to charge across the pitch in search of possession. Not only is Camavinga making more tackles per 90, he also boasts the better tackle success rate, with his 86.7% bettering Kante's 77.1%. However, what Kante lacks in this area of his game, he makes up for in his positional awareness.
Perhaps due to his advancing years - he turns 30 in March - Kante spends less time speeding across the midfield to rob opponents of possession and rather focuses on his reading of the game to deny teams the chance of going for goal. Indeed, Kante (2.7) is making far more interceptions per 90 than Camavinga (0.9) in both league and European action in 2020/21. In time, it's a trait that the Rennes man will pick up, but at present, it's the master outshining the apprentice.
That said, in both ball retention and driving possession up field, Camavinga comes out on top with his 90.1% pass success rate and two dribbles per 90 both superior to Kante (88.8% and 0.9, respectively). However, this perhaps merely highlights that Camavinga takes the best parts of Kante and adds them to his game to grow into a more rounded midfielder.
Kante sits at the base of the Chelsea midfield with teammates either side of him in a 4-3-3, whereas Camavinga operates either side of the holding midfielder for Rennes or a little further forward in a 4-1-4-1. So while Camavinga can be viewed as the heir to Kante in the France setup, the fact is there is more to his game to suggest he doesn't need to be pigeon holed into one role and can instead carry out a number of duties in the middle of the park, which is why he is so highly thought of, not just in France, but across Europe too.
And with his first real Champions League test looming, he'll be keen to showcase just why he is tipped to become one of the best midfielders in world football when Rennes welcome Chelsea tonight. With Kante back in form, though, he has what it takes to keep his successor quiet in France and book Chelsea's spot in the last-16 of the Champions League
