Jorginho ‘deserves’ to win the Ballon d’Or if Italy win Euro 2020 this summer according to former manager Maurizio Sarri.
The midfielder was brought to Chelsea by Sarri in 2018 and divided opinion at Stamford Bridge in his first few seasons.
But the 29-year-old has turned it round under Thomas Tuchel and played a key role in the club’s Champions League triumph back in May.
He’s continued that form with Italy, scoring the decisive penalty in shootout victory over Spain on Tuesday.
Current Lazio coach Sarri has suggested Jorginho wasn’t ‘understood’ when he first arrived in England despite being so intelligent.
Per Metro he explained: “If he wins the European Championship too, he will become one.
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“He is so good and intelligent that he makes everything seem easy, rarely anything spectacular remains in your eyes. This is its greatness.
“When I started dealing with Chelsea he was signing with City, we were able to intervene and bring him to Chelsea.
“Fans and journalists struggled to understand this boy’s game. Then he exploded in popularity in England too, now I have seen that he made the captain. He deserves it.”
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Roberto Mancini’s side have reached the Euro 2020 final without going behind once.
Federico Chiesa opened the scoring on the hour mark with a lovely finish, with Alvaro Morata cancelling out his strike 10 minutes from time.
Both teams played out extra-time at a lower pace before the game went to a penalty shoot-out.
Manuel Locatelli missed Italy’s opening spot-kick, with Dani Olmo then blazing over the bar for Luis Enrique’s side.
Italy then scored their next three, while Spain scored twice before Morata fluffed his lines from 12-yards.
Jorginho converted as cool as you like to seal victory.
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Mancini told reporters at full-time per Daily Mail: “Almost no-one believed we could do it, yet we’re into the final.
“From day one we have believed we could produce something incredible – but there is still one game to go.
“We are delighted to provide a wonderful night of entertainment for the Italian people, and we hope to produce one more.
“We knew this would be very tough. In terms of ball possession, Spain are the best around. They caused us problems and we had to dig in when we needed to.
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“I really want to take my hat off to Spain, they are a wonderful team. It was a very open game, but we kept going.
“When you are involved in an intense championship like this, you will always have one match when you have to suffer. And we knew it would be this game.
“But, occasionally, you can win matches in a different way.”
Featured Image Credit: PA Images & EiF/Twitter