Chelsea’s Jorginho aims return dig at Rio Ferdinand after bagging UEFA award

Chelsea star Jorginho has moved to hit back at former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, after finally securing his award for the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year.

Clean sweep

The last six months have of course proven the most productive of Jorginho’s career.

After establishing himself as a vastly improved and, above all, reliable figure at the base of Chelsea’s midfield, the former Napoli man proved a key cog in the engine of new boss Thomas Tuchel over the 2nd half of last season.

Such efforts ultimately culminated in the Blues both clinching a top-4 berth in the Premier League, and going all the way in the Champions League for just the 2nd time in their history.

PORTO, PORTUGAL – MAY 29: (—-EDITORIAL USE ONLY â MANDATORY CREDIT – “UEFA / ALEXANDER HASSENSTEIN / HANDOUT” – NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS—-) Players of Chelsea celebrate with the trophy at the end of the UEFA Champions League final match against Manchester City at Dragao Stadium on May 29, 2021 in Porto, Portugal. Chelsea won the 2021 Champions League title after beating Manchester City 1-0 in the final on Saturday. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein – UEFA/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Swiftly following Jorginho’s triumph on club football’s grandest stage, though, was further glory just weeks later.

This came at international level, as the 29-year-old again ran the show from his deep-lying midfield berth, this time for Italy at Euro 2020.

Roberto Mancini’s men defied the odds in ousting the likes of Belgium and Spain, before besting hosts England via a penalty shootout victory, to lift the European Championship trophy.

Jorginho, for his part, secured a deserved spot at the heart of the Team of the Tournament.

Ferdinand targeted

And such remarkable success, in turn, saw Chelsea’s midfield conductor aptly rewarded on an individual basis late last month.

This came in the form of the prize for the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year, with Jorginho having beaten out competition from the likes of teammate N’Golo Kante, and fellow Champions League finalist Kevin De Bruyne:

⚽ / ‘ … !

A #UCL and #EURO2020 champion – what a year for the Chelsea man.

Congratulations, Jorginho! #UEFAawards pic.twitter.com/luVwEagEE8

— UEFA (@UEFA) August 26, 2021

The ex-Hellas Verona man was subsequently handed his latest accolade on Tuesday night, ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League showdown with Zenit St. Petersburg.

And, as outlined above, on the back of his latest crowning achievement, Jorginho has since made use of the opportunity to take aim at one of his many detractors.

The individual in question? Rio Ferdinand.

Back in 2019, ex-Manchester United-star-turned-pundit Ferdinand called into question the abilities of the Italian, in insisting that:

‘He gets no assists, he’s not a great defender, once a game gets like this against the big teams he gets overrun in midfield and he can’t run.’

In turn, upon coming across footage of the claims in question on the ‘everything.blues_’ TikTok account this week, Jorginho was quick to take advantage of the situation, posting the clip to his Instagram story, in a defiant response to Ferdinand’s jibe.

Chelsea star Jorginho takes aim at Rio Ferdinand with UEFA award swipehttps://t.co/gtaU7uIpw5 pic.twitter.com/4eIk7n1Rnv

— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) September 17, 2021

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