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To celebrate his 31st birthday, the entire France squad surprised N'Golo Kante with a special cake – and his typically shy and reserved reaction to the gesture is a wholesome one.
Amid their preparations for Tuesday night's friendly against South Africa – a game they went on to win 5-0 – the team gathered together in a meeting room to surprise Chelsea's defensive midfielder.
Kante, who once apologised to a former teammate for a gift because he had never been to a birthday party before, was clearly humbled by the gift. You can see the brilliant footage below.
As you can see in the footage above, the likes of Paul Pogba, Kylian Mbappe and Presnel Kimpembe sing 'Happy Birthday' to Kante, who proceeds to stand up and make a speech.
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He thanks the room before saying: "Hopefully we can celebrate with a good match and nice win tonight."
And they did just that. Didier Deschamps' side knocked five past South Africa thanks to goals from Kylian Mbappe [2], Olivier Giroud, Wissam Ben Yedder and former Arsenal midfielder Matteo Guendouzi.
Deschamps is a huge fan of Kante. In fact, last year, he said the Chelsea midfielder is the first name on the France national team teamsheet.
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“The midfielder works in the shadows," Deschamps told El Pais. "He is not given media attention because he is not 'decisive.' From time to time, lights get shone on them. That is the case for Kante now.
"He is above all the first player that his team-mates pick for their teams in training. And he is the first name that a coach, a national team manager, notes down when he is deciding his starting XI.”
Kante is also widely recognised as one of nicest guys in football but he feels his image is overblown to an extent.
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"It is true that sometimes, there is this image that is a bit too wonderful and a bit too beautiful," he said in a press conference last year.
"But in the end, I am just a normal guy. A player amongst others. There is no need to say I am the kindest, or the nicest. I am just a player like the others. I think that sometimes, it is overblown. It does not need to be.
"It is true that I like to get on well with my team-mates, to have good relationships with people that I come across in the streets and in football. But aside from that, there are other people like that in football.
"We don't need to make a whole story or sometimes exaggerate."
Featured Image Credit: Equipe de France/TwitterTopics: NGolo Kante, France, South Africa, Paul Pogba, Kylian Mbappe
