July 14, (THEWILL) – With Italy still reliving the exhilaration of their thrilling run through a successful Euro 2020 campaign and the fantastic victory at the end, their key player Jorginho is pleased to talk up his Ballon d’Or chances especially when the Euro win is taken into the context of his UEFA Champions League win with Chelsea.
On May 29, the Thomas Tuchel-coached English Premier League side, Chelsea, finished a brilliant season with a lone goal victory over Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City at the Porto’s Estadio Do Dragao in Portugal with the Italian Jorginho playing a crucial central defensive midfield role.
He was instrumental to how well the EPL side managed to keep the tactical game City desired to play under control in the middle of the park and exert enough influence on the movement of the ball out to the wide players in the flanks to keep Chelsea as a constant threat throughout the European competition final match.
Jorginho carried that form to the Italian squad. He was one of the standout players of a side that saw the emergence of superb players in the course of the duration of the competition. The Roberto Mancini-led Italians competed at a high level with Jorginho playing confidently from his midfield position.
Jorginho’s accomplishments, winning the top accolades at the domestic and national levels in Europe, have led to a sizzling campaign to ensure that he is rewarded with the year’s top prize in football awards, the Ballon d’Or.
For that award to become his, Jorginho will have to beat the usual suspects of six-time winner, Argentina’s football icon, Lionel Messi, and fine-time winner, Portuguese superstar footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo, both of whom had some personal and, in Messi’s case, national honours of their own.
For the first time after a career-long wait, Barcelona’s most decorated player Messi finally won a major international trophy for his country to bring home something of the glorious victories he had won for his club. At the sixth time of trying to win a final for Argentina, the Albiceleste held off a strong Brazil side to carry the day through a 22nd-minute Angel di Maria goal.
Messi was instrumental to their win with his tournament-high four goals and four assists that won the “Little Magician” the honour of the highest goal-scorer and the joint-best player awards, which he shared with Brazilian Neymar, his friend and former teammate at Barca. Messi was celebrated on his return home to a hero’s welcome.
Ronaldo also won the highest goal-scorer award at the Euro competition that Jorginho’s Italy won although as defending champions Portugal did not go very far. The incredible Portuguese superstar made the European goal-scoring record a part of his personal collection as he overtook Michel Platini’s record to become the all-time Euro top scorer.
Ronaldo’s total from the continental competition took his international tally to a staggering 109 goals. In that metric, the football icon drew equal with the world-record mark set by former Iran forward Ali Daei, the former captain of the Iran national football team between 2000 and 2006.
It is this record that Jorginho’s attempt to be named Ballon d’Or winner of the year will be up against. However, when asked of his chances this year, the 29-year-old confidently said no other player has had a better season than he had: “We all have dreams. But I’ll be honest, it depends on the criteria a decision is made based on. If we’re talking about talent then I know I’m not the best in the world.
“But if it’s going on titles, then nobody has won more than I have this season. How could I compare myself to Messi, Neymar or Cristiano Ronaldo? They’ve completely different characteristics to me. But, I repeat, it depends on the criteria.”
The footballer, who could have been in the Brazilian line-up in South America instead of the Italian national team in Europe, as he was born in Brazil before the family moved to Italy admitted that although it was a childhood dream to play for Brazil, he had no regrets deciding on Italy.
“After the Under-21s, I only played friendlies for Italy; then in November 2017 I was called up for the World Cup playoff against Sweden.
“Then, Brazil wanted me too. Playing for Brazil was my dream since I was a child, but I thought that Italy needed help.
“After the Under-21s I only played friendlies for Italy, then in November 2017 I was called up for the World Cup playoff against Sweden.
“Then, Brazil wanted me too. Playing for Brazil was my dream since I was a child, but I thought that Italy needed help. And when I needed help, Italy opened their doors to me and embraced me. My heart said ‘Italy needs you’, so I made that decision and I’m very happy that I did.”
The midfielder was one of the five players of the Italy squad to be named into the Team of the Tournament. The others are the competition’s best goalkeeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Leonardo Spinazzola, and the centre-back pairing of Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
