{"id":47747,"date":"2021-08-02T16:59:31","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T15:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/ballon-dor-2021-players-positioned-to-win-award-named"},"modified":"2021-08-02T17:56:47","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T16:56:47","slug":"ballon-dor-2021-players-positioned-to-win-award-named","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/ballon-dor-2021-players-positioned-to-win-award-named","title":{"rendered":"Ballon d\u2019Or 2021: Players positioned to win award named"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Nigeria<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Italy and Juventus stars, Federico Chiesa, Giorgio Chiellini, and Chelsea\u2019s Jorginho, have been named possible favourites to win this year\u2019s Ballon d\u2019Or.<\/p>\n

Lionel Messi of Argentina and Barcelona and Italy goalkeeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma are also among the list of favourite players hoping to grasp the prestigious individual award this year.<\/p>\n

A former Barcelona sporting director, Ariedo Braida believes that Chiesa should be given the France Football\u2019s coveted award if he \u201ckeeps improving\u201d following his performance in the recently concluded Euro 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s already won the Euros with Italy, so if he keeps improving like this, Chiesa can have ambitions to win the Ballon d\u2019Or in future, too,\u201d he told Tuttosport.<\/p>\n

Ballon d\u2019Or 2021: Three players named as possible contenders<\/p>\n

Jorginho on his part has insisted that he deserves to win the 2021 Ballon d\u2019Or having won the Champions League with Chelsea and helping Italy win the Euro 2020.<\/p>\n

And Braida argued that Jorginho or Donnarumma should win the award.<\/p>\n

\u201cJorginho has won more than anyone else, thanks to that brace of the Champions League and Euros, so I\u2019d give it to him or Gianluigi Donnarumma,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving said that, Lionel Messi is always Messi and has to be taken into consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking on the same issue, Shakhtar Donetsk manager, Roberto De Zerbi, believes that Chiellini could challenge for the award.<\/p>\n

Chiellini, 36, formed a formidable partnership with Italy teammate Leonardo Bonucci at this summer\u2019s Euro 2020.<\/p>\n

De Zerbi told Gazzetta dello Sport that Jorginho \u201cdeserves\u201d to win the Ballon d\u2019Or.<\/p>\n

But he pointed out that Chiellini could follow in the footsteps of Fabio Cannavaro by winning the award.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the trophies he\u2019s [Jorginho] won, he deserves it,\u201d De Zerbi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is such a smart midfielder. When I was at Sassuolo, I used to tell Maxime Lopez to watch him closely because he sees football one hour before the others.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou won\u2019t notice him many times, but he was one of Italy\u2019s key players with Gigio Donnarumma, Leo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, Messi remains Messi and will be among the candidates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. Italy and Juventus stars, Federico Chiesa, Giorgio Chiellini, and Chelsea\u2019s Jorginho, have been named possible favourites to win this year\u2019s Ballon d\u2019Or. Lionel Messi of Argentina and Barcelona and Italy goalkeeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma are also among the list of favourite players hoping to grasp the prestigious individual award this year. A former […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":47746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,28,18,26],"tags":[1570,2140,4480,254],"class_list":["post-47747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-nigeria-2","tag-ballon-dor-2021","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"\nBallon d\u2019Or 2021: Players positioned to win award named - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Italy and Juventus stars, Federico Chiesa, Giorgio Chiellini, and Chelsea\u2019s Jorginho, have been named possible favourite ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/ballon-dor-2021-players-positioned-to-win-award-named\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ballon d\u2019Or 2021: Players positioned to win award named\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Italy and Juventus stars, Federico Chiesa, Giorgio Chiellini, and Chelsea\u2019s Jorginho, have been named possible favourite ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/ballon-dor-2021-players-positioned-to-win-award-named\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-02T15:59:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-02T16:56:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/img-610823aff22bb.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/ballon-dor-2021-players-positioned-to-win-award-named#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/ballon-dor-2021-players-positioned-to-win-award-named\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ballon d\u2019Or 2021: Players positioned to win award named\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-02T15:59:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-02T16:56:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/ballon-dor-2021-players-positioned-to-win-award-named\"},\"wordCount\":366,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/ballon-dor-2021-players-positioned-to-win-award-named#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/img-610823aff22bb.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Nigeria\",\"Ballon d'Or 2021\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"Sport\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/ballon-dor-2021-players-positioned-to-win-award-named#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/ballon-dor-2021-players-positioned-to-win-award-named\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/ballon-dor-2021-players-positioned-to-win-award-named\",\"name\":\"Ballon d\u2019Or 2021: Players positioned to win award named - 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