Kylian Mbappe has given Chelsea an unexpected edge in the Premier League title race

N'Golo Kante walked off the National Arena pitch in Budapest with his head bowed. There was little else he could do in truth. France, the world champions, had been eliminated from Euro 2020 by Switzerland in the most unlikely of circumstances.

Rewind the clock and hour and all appeared well for Les Bleus. They led 3-1 after a Karim Benzema double and a wonderful goal from Paul Pogba. But two Swiss goals in the final ten minutes rocked France and they bowed out of the competition after Kylian Mbappe missed the crucial fifth penalty in the shootout.

“It really hurts," Didier Deschamps said after the game. "There’s a lot of sadness and, well, there were many things that we did really well in this match, but not everything and if we think too much about this match it won’t help too much.

“This Euro was really difficult, it’s not an excuse, and now there’s the last European champion and the last world champion who have to go home, it hurts but we have to accept it.”

France flew home after the game in Hungary. And from the moment the players departed from the squad yesterday, they were officially on their summer break, but there is unlikely to be too much jet-setting due to differing Covid-19 travel restrictions across the globe.

For the Chelsea trio that were included in the France squad – Kurt Zouma, Olivier Giroud, and Kante – now is the time to rest and unwind.