Jorginho dreams of winning the Ballon d’Or: ‘It’s better to dream big’
Italy midfielder Jorginho admitted he’s dreaming of winning the Ballon d’Or 2021 and said the Azzurri want to bounce back from the defeat to Spain in the semi-finals of the UEFA Nations League. ‘We want to win again’.
The Brazilian-born midfielder helped Italy win the European Championship this summer after being a key member of the Chelsea side picking up the Champions League in 2020-21.
But Jorginho admitted it’s hard to prepare for a new game every three days, including tomorrow’s match against Belgium at the Allianz Stadium.
“I always want to play and to be able to help the team,” Jorginho said at a press conference. “All these games every three days makes it hard to train and recover, but I’m fine.
“We have just lost a game, we have a desire to win again. We have this winning mentality here and for me, tomorrow’s match represents an opportunity. We want to win again.”
Jorginho felt Italy struggled more against Spain in the semi-final of the Euros, than they did at San Siro in the 2-1 defeat on Wednesday.
“In the European Championship, we struggled much more,” Jorginho continued. “On Wednesday we were in good shape, we were recovering well.
“Then the details change the course of the match at this level.”
Jorginho expects a tough test against Belgium, pointing at their FIFA ranking over the last years.
“Belgium are a great national team,” he said. “They have been ranked first for years, they are a great team and it’s never easy to play against them.
“You must always stay on track and give your best.”
Jorginho is one of the candidates to win the Ballon d’Or this year and was asked if he dreams of picking up the coveted prize.
“Who doesn’t dream of that? Dreaming small and dreaming big are the same thing, so it’s better to dream big…”
The former Napoli midfielder said the youngsters at Italy could help the team in the future and hopes to see them have an opportunity to play already.
“Maybe it could help, so that we can play more years at high levels,” he said. “I hope the lads will get these opportunities.”