On Thursday, the prestigious awards ceremony hosted by UEFA took place and the winner of the night was undoubtedly Chelsea Football Club. The award ceremony—which is integrated with the annual Champions League group stage draw—is one of the biggest footballing events of the year. Last year, Bayern Munich was the decisive winner of the night, taking home almost all of the awards. However, this time, it was the Blues who reigned supreme.
Chelsea is the reigning European Champion after defeating the likes of Atletico Madrid, Porto, Real Madrid and Manchester City en route to a second UCL title. It was a hard-fought road to glory, but the Blues looked absolutely dominant on the run. Their Premier League season might not have been the greatest—in fact, they only made it to the top four due to a Leicester City bottle job in the last game of the season—but their European success was undeniable.
Chelsea was the undisputed winner of the UEFA awards ceremony, taking home four awards on the night.
In Champions League, Chelsea looked absolutely dominant. The Blues faced some tough opponents—such as the Spanish Champions—and easily swiped them off with a 3-0 aggregate victory. Then came Porto, who had just defeated Juventus. Chelsea won the first leg quite easily however, it lost the second leg, and with Los Blancos up next, no one was sure what to expect. Regardless, the Blues were by far the better side and ended up winning the tie 3-1 on aggregate to move on to the final. The finale was a tough and gritty game played by two sides with everything on the line. City had never won the competition before, but the Blues were also looking for redemption after losing their second FA Cup final in a row. It was a brilliant game, but in the end, Chelsea came out on top after a night of hard defending.
The spoils of that victory were the UCL trophy and four UEFA awards. Before diving into the awards, a quick note on the draw. The Blues were drawn into Group H of this year’s competition. They will square off against the Italian giant, Juventus, Zenit and Malmo. Of course, the former will now be without superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and neither of the other two have the defending European Champions shaking in their boots. Now, it’s time to give some praise—here are the four UEFA award winners from west London.
Edouard Mendy (Champions League Goalkeeper of the Year)
Edouard Mendy is a hidden gem that was essentially gifted to Chelsea last season. Kepa Arrizabalaga improved a lot over last campaign and he even won the Blues the UEFA Super Cup this season. However, in the 2019/20 season, he was one of the worst keepers in the Premier League. Chelsea needed a replacement for Arrizabalaga and it found Mendy at Stade Rennais.
The Senegalese goalkeeper was not well known in the English top flight, but he had a brilliant season in the Ligue 1 before coming to Stamford Bridge. His height, physicality and reflexes easily made him the first choice keeper over the struggling Spaniard. Credit goes to Petr Cech for this recruit, as he was the one who scouted out Mendy and suggested him to Frank Lampard. Mendy had a fantastic maiden UCL season, keeping nine clean sheets in 12 appearances. He only conceded three times during the campaign, once against Madrid, once against Porto and once against his former side. Mendy went from being clubless in 2015 to becoming a Champions League winner in 2021, and he absolutely deserved his award. He was fundamental to Chelsea’s European success.
N’Golo Kante (Champions League Midfielder of the Year)
Beating out the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Jorginho to win the ‘Best Midfielder of the Year’ award is no small task. However, when you’re N’Golo Kante, you can take on any opposition and still come out on top. The French steam engine—known for his fantastic stamina, pace and interception skills—was the one to change Chelsea’s fortunes in the Champions League. This came after he put in four-Man of the Match performances in the knockout stages, including the final three matches.
The former World Cup winner was absolutely dominant, he was the hurdle for all the opposition midfielders. To get past Kante was a huge task and even after getting past him, he was often there to intercept the following pass. Kante is known for his ability to outrun and intercept opposing passes and his awareness is probably the best in the game. He always knows what is going on and chooses to make his next move accordingly. That is why Kante is not just a fantastic defensive player, but a decent offensive player, as well. The decorated midfielder made some brilliant runs throughout the tournament, which split open defenses as his pace was too much for the opposition to handle. Although he did not score in the competition, his runs against Real Madrid and Man City were amazing, and he should have gotten on the score sheet against Los Blancos.
Thomas Tuchel (UEFA Men’s Coach of the Year)
Without former Borrusia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel coming to Chelsea, the team would have never won the UCL. The German mastermind took over a struggling Blues side in January of 2021 and he went on to win the biggest tournament of them all. Under Lampard, the Blues lacked the alertness and the swift playing style that they now demonstrate. Chelsea used to play like it was in 2008 when physicality outweighed fast-paced, quick passing style attacking football. While playing on counter-attack is not exactly bad, as Jose Mourinho showed us, football has changed a lot and Tuchel showed us exactly what we were missing.
Changing from a 4-3-3 to a three-at-the-back at the back formation, allowing the wingbacks to help out the forwards was an excellent idea. This—along with the motivation to excel at everything—gave Chelsea a second boost near the end of the season. While winning the English top flight was out of the question, the Blues were still in the running to win the FA Cup and the UCL. The FA Cup seemed more realistic, but Tuchel only had his eyes set on the trophy with the big ears.
After getting so close to the trophy with PSG, the German tactician made up his mind that he would win it with Chelsea. The boys in blue went on an adventure of a lifetime, beating all the top teams on the continent and coming up as the unlikely winners of the biggest club competition in the world. It is all thanks to Tuchel. Tuchel turned around a failing team and made it a European champion, and no one deserves the trophy more than him.
Jorginho (UEFA Men’s Player of the Year)
The biggest award of the night was picked up by none other than Chelsea’s vice-captain, Jorginho. The story of the former Napoli man is absolutely incredible. Coming from Italy, along with his former manager Maurizio Sarri, the Italian was tipped to leave the club after finding it difficult to adjust to the Premier League. When Sarri departed the club in 2019, many thought that Jorginho would follow.
However, the midfielder decided to stay at Chelsea and help it win even more trophies. In his first year, he won the Europa League with the Blues, but he struggled the next season under Lampard. He was quick to foul players and made rash decisions, which ended up with him earning 13 yellow cards that campaign. His career with Chelsea seemed to be all but over as several sources claimed that he wanted a move back to Italy. Despite rumors and allegations though, Jorginho kept his calm and improved his game a lot.
From being the outcast at Stamford Bridge to becoming the European Player of the Year, it has been a rollercoaster of a ride for the Italian. Being able to play in his preferred deeper role has given him the confidence that he had back in Serie A. He has also adapted well to the pace of the English game now. His overall style has become much faster than before. Jorginho is no longer the rash, slow player that he used to be; he is now the elegant conductor who orchestrates the entire game. Understanding Jorginho is tougher than it looks, however. Without his influence, the Blues wouldn’t have picked up their second UCL or even the Super Cup. The midfielder also helped Italy in winning its first major tournament since 2006 and thus, he deserved to win the 2021 UEFA Player of the Year award.
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