Newly-retired Chelsea legend Didier Drogba has named his top picks for this year’s edition of the prestigious Ballon d’Or award.
The 40-year-old announced his retirement from football earlier this month, having scored 164 goals in 381 appearances for Chelsea. He also won four Premier League titles, the 2012 Champions League title, four FA Cups and three League Cups with the club.
Meanwhile, the Ballon d’Or shortlist of thirty nominees was released several weeks ago and includes Sergio Aguero, Alisson Becker, Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Edinson Cavani, Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, Roberto Firmino, Diego Godin, Antoine Griezmann, Eden Hazard, Isco, Harry Kane, N’Golo Kante, Hugo Lloris, Mario Mandzukic, Sadio Mane, Marcelo, Kylian Mbappe, Luka Modric, Neymar, Paul Pogba, Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Ramos, Mohamed Salah, Luis Suarez, Jan Oblak Raphael Varane, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The two-time Premier League Golden Boot winner has now named his favourites for the award, tipping Paris Saint Germain forward Kylian Mbappe to win it.
Speaking to Goal at a Yokohama event in New Delhi, the former striker said, “It would be really nice to see Kylian Mbappe win it. It would be refreshing.”
“But Ronaldo is still there, he’s still a machine. He won all these Champions League trophies, changed leagues to go to Juventus, and he’s scoring goals there. The man is just unbelievable.”
When asked which was the better team – Chelsea under Carlo Ancelotti or Manchester City under Pep Guardiola- Drogba answered, “Of course it’ll be us.”
“They played very well last season. They broke our record of 103 goals scored that season. And they completely deserved that title. But our team in 2010 was extremely difficult to play against.”
The winner of the award is set to be announced on December 3 in Paris.