Published: October 9, 2021 8:28 pm
Last Updated: October 9, 2021 8:33 pm
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has this weekend tipped a particular member of his Blues squad as deserving of the 2021 Ballon d’Or award.
Messi joined by Pedri & more
The latest round of nominees for the Ballon d’Or were of course announced a little over 24 hours ago.
After the awarding of the prize – widely regarded as the most prestigious individual accolade in world football – was cancelled last time out due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the first ‘Golden Ball’ for almost two years will be served up late next month.
The usual big-hitters were all present on France Football’s shortlist, including the two most successful players in the accolade’s history – Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo – along with Robert Lewandowski, Neymar, Erling Haaland, and another previous winner – Luka Modric.
Also honoured with inclusions were Barcelona sensation Pedri, Italian Euro 2020 winners Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci, and even Simon Kjaer, owing to his heroic response to Christian Eriksen’s frightening cardiac arrest during the summer:
Lewandowski, Salah, Jorginho, Azpilicueta, Lukaku, Ronaldo, Foden, Gerard Moreno, Mbappe, Suarez, De Bruyne, Dias, Kjaer, Neymar, Lautaro Martinez, Messi, Pedri, Chiellini, Bruno Fernandes, Modric, Mahrez, Haaland, Kante, Mount, Bonucci, Donnarumma, Kane, Benzema, Barella, Sterling
Here are the other 10 nominees for the Men’s #ballondor pic.twitter.com/auEMazmpEy
— France Football #BallondOr (@francefootball) October 8, 2021
‘Deserves to win’
As things stand, it is of course Lionel Messi who is viewed as the bookmakers‘ favourite to bag a historic 7th Ballon d’Or crown, on the back of a long overdue Copa America triumph with Argentina.
Amongst the other front-runners, though, are the likes of Robert Lewandowski, and Chelsea pair N’Golo Kante and Jorginho.
And, as outlined above, the man who oversees the talents of both Blues midfielders on a daily basis has, this weekend, provided his backing to the latter.
With Jorginho having enjoyed a historic calendar year, which saw him emerge triumphant from both the Champions League and European Championships, Thomas Tuchel has revealed his opinion that the Italian would be fully ‘deserving’ of having his name added to the Ballon d’Or winner’s list on November 29th:
‘Jorginho deserves to win the Ballon d’Or. He’s a very intelligent player and it’s a pleasure to be his coach.’
Jorginho deserves the Ballon d’Or, according to Thomas Tuchel 🏆 pic.twitter.com/fyPxNW4ef6
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) October 9, 2021
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Premier League table
| # | Team | MP | D | P |
| 1 | Chelsea FC | 7 | 12 | 16 |
| 2 | Liverpool FC | 7 | 11 | 15 |
| 3 | Manchester City | 7 | 11 | 14 |
| 4 | Manchester United | 7 | 8 | 14 |
| 5 | Everton FC | 7 | 5 | 14 |
| 6 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 7 | 3 | 14 |
| 7 | Brentford FC | 7 | 4 | 12 |
| 8 | Tottenham Hotspur | 7 | -4 | 12 |
| 9 | West Ham United | 7 | 4 | 11 |
| 10 | Aston Villa | 7 | 1 | 10 |
| 11 | Arsenal FC | 7 | -5 | 10 |
| 12 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 7 | -1 | 9 |
| 13 | Leicester City | 7 | -3 | 8 |
| 14 | Crystal Palace | 7 | -3 | 7 |
| 15 | Watford FC | 7 | -3 | 7 |
| 16 | Leeds United | 7 | -7 | 6 |
| 17 | Southampton FC | 7 | -5 | 4 |
| 18 | Burnley FC | 7 | -6 | 3 |
| 19 | Newcastle United | 7 | -8 | 3 |
| 20 | Norwich City | 7 | -14 | 1 |
| Player | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Salah, Mohamed | Liverpool FC | 6 |
| Vardy, Jamie | Leicester City | 6 |
| Antonio, Michail | West Ham United | 5 |
| Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United | 4 |
| Mane, Sadio | Liverpool FC | 4 |
| Maupay, Neal | Brighton & Hove Albion | 4 |
| Sarr, Ismaila | Watford FC | 4 |
| Townsend, Andros | Everton FC | 3 |
| Benrahma, Said | West Ham United | 3 |
| Son, Heung Min | Tottenham Hotspur | 3 |
| Gray, Demarai | Everton FC | 3 |
| Ronaldo, Cristiano | Manchester United | 3 |
| Lukaku, Romelu | Chelsea FC | 3 |
| Calvert-Lewin, Dominic | Everton FC | 3 |
| Jota, Diogo | Liverpool FC | 3 |
| Hwang, Hee-chan | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 3 |
| Raphinha | Leeds United | 3 |
| Greenwood, Mason | Manchester United | 3 |
| Doucoure, Abdoulaye | Everton FC | 2 |
| Jesus, Gabriel | Manchester City | 2 |
| Player | Team | Red Cards | Yellow Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dennis, Emmanuel | Watford FC | 0 | 4 |
| Skipp, Oliver | Tottenham Hotspur | 0 | 4 |
| Pogba, Paul | Manchester United | 0 | 3 |
| Doucoure, Abdoulaye | Everton FC | 0 | 3 |
| Rice, Declan | West Ham United | 0 | 3 |
| Cooper, Liam | Leeds United | 0 | 3 |
| Norgaard, Christian | Brentford FC | 0 | 3 |
| Tarkowski, James | Burnley FC | 0 | 3 |
| Veltman, Joel | Brighton & Hove Albion | 0 | 3 |
| Brownhill, Josh | Burnley FC | 0 | 3 |
| Etebo, Oghenekaro | Watford FC | 0 | 3 |
| Djenepo, Moussa | Southampton FC | 0 | 3 |
| Antonio, Michail | West Ham United | 0 | 1 |
| Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United | 0 | 2 |
| Maupay, Neal | Brighton & Hove Albion | 0 | 2 |
| Jimenez, Raul | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 0 | 2 |
| Raphinha | Leeds United | 0 | 2 |
| Gallagher, Conor | Crystal Palace | 0 | 2 |
| Alonso, Marcos | Chelsea FC | 0 | 2 |
| Ward Prowse, James | Southampton FC | 1 | 1 |
| Player | Team | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| Pogba, Paul | Manchester United | 7 |
| Doucoure, Abdoulaye | Everton FC | 4 |
| Jesus, Gabriel | Manchester City | 4 |
| Salah, Mohamed | Liverpool FC | 3 |
| Antonio, Michail | West Ham United | 3 |
| Saint-Maximin, Allan | Newcastle United | 3 |
| Kovacic, Mateo | Chelsea FC | 3 |
| Townsend, Andros | Everton FC | 2 |
| Benrahma, Said | West Ham United | 2 |
| Ings, Danny | Aston Villa | 2 |
| Toney, Ivan | Brentford FC | 2 |
| Jimenez, Raul | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 2 |
| Bamford, Patrick | Leeds United | 2 |
| James, Reece | Chelsea FC | 2 |
| Azpilicueta, Cesar | Chelsea FC | 2 |
| Gross, Pascal | Brighton & Hove Albion | 2 |
| King, Joshua | Watford FC | 2 |
| Pereira, Ricardo | Leicester City | 2 |
| Alexander-Arnold, Trent | Liverpool FC | 2 |
| Rice, Declan | West Ham United | 2 |
