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With the 2021 Ballon d'Or ceremony just around the corner, Chelsea's Mason Mount has said what he would do if he were to win the award. The midfielder said that there would be no drinking and celebrating, as he would have to be back in training the next day.
After successful campaigns with both Chelsea and England this year, Mount has made it to the 30-man Ballon d'Or shortlist along with four other Chelsea players. They are Cesar Azpilicueta, Jorginho, N’Golo Kante and Romelu Lukaku. Among the quartet. Jorginho has the most chance to win the Ballon d'Or, as he won the Champions League with Chelsea and Euro 2020 with Italy.
Nevertheless, if he somehow wins the coveted award, Mount told the Daily Mail that he would not celebrate wildly, saying:
"I'm back on the pitch the next morning for training, so even if I do somehow end up winning, it won't be a big night of drinking, unfortunately."
Lionel Messi has emerged as the favourite to win his seventh Ballon d'Or award this year. That's largely for leading Argentina from the front, with four goals and five assists, in their successful Copa America 2021 campaign. Earlier in the year, Messi won a record-extending eighth Pichichi award, even though the La Liga title eluded him. He did win the Copa Del Rey title, though.
Mount was all praise for Messi during the interview, saying how he saw the Argentine from close quarters:
"When I was younger, I was a ball boy during a Barcelona and Chelsea match at Stamford Bridge, and seeing him up close was amazing."
The 22-year old attacking midfielder also said that he doesn't often wear a suit, one he'll have to wear on Monday for the Ballon d'Or 2021 ceremony. He said in this regard:
"I don't really get the opportunity to wear many suits. I could probably count on one hand how many times I've worn a suit in my life. This is all very new to me."
"The pitch is my natural habitat, and now I have to work out how to do a bow tie. The Ballon d'Or presentation will be the first time I've ever worn black tie!"
The Ballon d'Or award ceremony will be held at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on November 29 (Monday).
Lionel Messi widely tipped to win the 2021 Ballon d'Or award
Robert Lewandowski and Jorginho are expected to be Lionel Messi's strongest rivals in the race for the 2021 Ballon d'Or award. However, recent reports have suggested that Messi is set to win his seventh accolade after winning the Copa America earlier this year.
Messi has bagged 32 goals and 11 assists in club football, and eight goals and three assists for Argentina this year. The corresponding numbers for Lewandowski are 51 goals and five assists for Bayern Munich, and 11 goals and four assists for Poland.
However, Messi was arguably the better individual player, as he led a struggling Barcelona team to the Copa Del Rey earlier this year. Both Jorginho and Lewandowski have more trophies than Messi, though.
While Jorginho won the Champions League with Chelsea and the Euros with Italy, Lewandowski won the Bundesliga and the DFB Pokal with Bayern. Rumours suggest that Messi has already won this year's Ballon d'Or title. However, this year's race is expected to be as close as in 2019, when Virgil Van Dijk lost to Messi by only seven votes.
