Farmers’ league, Desert Kingdom, They’ve gone there to retire and grab as much money as possible… And so on, and so on.Those are just a few of the most frequent comments about the Saudi Pro League and the players from Europe who decided to move there in recent years.Well, a tiny bit of reality check the EURO 2024 has brought us so far says that the Saudi-based players are as good as others and even better.For instance, the Saudi Pro League players Nicolae Stanciu and N’golo Kante received the Man of the Match reward in two of three games on Monday.#EURo2024 Man of the Match winners by league so far:🇸🇦 SPL – 2🏴 Premier League – 2🇮🇹 Serie A – 2🇩🇪 Bundesliga – 2🇫🇷 Ligue 1 – 1🇪🇸 La Liga – 1 pic.twitter.com/cNig7mfVWf— Wael Jabir (@waeljabir) June 17, 2024 The Romanian attacking midfielder, currently plying his trade at Damac FC, shined in his national team’s 3-0 battering of Ukraine. Kante, on the other hand, reminded us of his magnificent performances from back in the day as he covered vast amounts of space and connected somewhat disoriented French dots against Austria on Monday night.The 33-year-old Al-Ittihad player made his presence felt in midfield. Both offensively and defensively, Kante seemed concentrated, always on top, calm and effective.EURO 2024: No goals for France and yet they wonThe fact he left Chelsea and the English Premier League last year to continue his journey in Saudi Arabia definitely didn’t hurt his football skills nor tarnish his image as a hard-working, humble player who puts in all the possible effort for his team.Moreover, playing with the likes of Karim Benzema, Fabinho, and the other stars definitely proved useful in terms of keeping him at the levels we’re used to seeing him.”Forget prime Kante; current Kante is clear,” one fan pointed out.Austria looked through on goal late in the second half against France with an opportunity to equalize.It was 33-year-old N’Golo Kanté who made the goal-saving recovery run to win the ball back for France and help secure the win.Still elite ✨ pic.twitter.com/owgbTJLKOh— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) June 17, 2024 And, just to remind you, there’s another Saudi Pro League star who is about to perform tonight as Portugal are about to face the Czech Republic. The Man of the Match reward is something he’ll gladly jump on.EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP – GROUP STAGEMondayRomania – Ukraine 3-0 (1-0)/Stanciu 29, Marin 53, Dragus 57/Belgium – Slovakia 1-0 (1-0)/Schranz 7/Austria – France 0-1 (0-1)/Wober 38(og)/Tuesday19.00: (1.85) Turkey (3.50) Georgia (4.40)22.00: (1.55) Portugal (4.00) Czech R. (6.25)***odds are subject to change***
