Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger has questioned the list of 30 players released for the BallonD’or Award this year following the omission of teammate Edouard Mendy. German international Rudiger used his official Twitter account to question why Senegalese international Mendy was left out of the list of the best players in the world.
Rudiger took to his Twitter account to ask the question after Mendy made a lot of outstanding saves to keep a clean sheet and help Chelsea to a hard fought West London Derby win over hosts Brentford. Chelsea were far from their best and they had their goalkeeper to thank for the three points.
The reigning Champions League winners secured a 1-0 away win over the Bees courtesy the goal from England international Ben Chilwell on the stroke of half-time.
Rudiger was impressed with Mendy who made a lot of saves to prevent the hosts from finding the back of the net. The German had to sit out the West London Derby encounter in the league due to a small injury. Chelsea were missing defenders like Rudiger and Thiago Silva. Brazilian player Thiago Silva missed the game due to national team commitment. Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel turned to Andreas Christensen and Trevor Chalobah in the absence of Rudiger and Thiago Silva.
By the time Chelsea took to the field for the derby clash with Brentford on Saturday evening, they were in third place on the league standings and they needed a win to reclaim top spot ahead of Liverpool.
Liverpool had earlier moved two points clear thanks to the emphatic win over newly promoted club Watford. The Reds ran out 5-0 winners away from home with goals from Brazilian star Roberto Firmino (three goals), Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane. Manchester City took second place behind Liverpool with a 2-0 home win overBurnley with goals from Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne either side of the break. The Premier League champions moved one point off Liverpool as a result of the win over the Clarets.Chelsea were able to move above both Manchester City and Liverpool with the slim win over the Bees.