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• Hingst wants Ballon d'Or to move away from 'superstar' preference after Putellas nomination

  World Cup winner Ariane Hingst believes the Ballon d'Or Feminin must reconsider who merits the global award in order to do "justice to the great football players".

  Former Germany international Hingst, speaking at the Thinking Football Summit organised by Liga Portugal, could not fathom the reasoning behind including the likes of injury-hit Alexia Putellas as a nominee.

  The 30-player list was announced at the start of September, with the winner revealed later in October, as Aitana Bonmati heads to the award ceremony in Paris as the favourite.

  Spain's Nations League success saw five of their players nominated, including Bonmati, while the United States women's national team also had as many nominees after their Olympic success in the French capital.

  Hingst, winner of FIFA's top international competition in 2003 and 2007, believes the Ballon d'Or needs to look further than "superstars", however.

  "It's always interesting to see the nominees of these Ballon d'Ors," Hingst said to Stats Perform. "I think the problem is that you only have the big picture when you have a big tournament going on. 

  "We had the Olympics, but you see all kinds of sports, so you can't just follow the football, so it's hard to follow.

  "What frustrates me the most is, and don't get me wrong, the likes of Alexia Putellas, [she is] a great, great player, but she's been injured for such a long time and is on the list to be the best of this season.

  "This can't be right and I don't think that it does justice to the great football players we have out there if Putellas is on this list as well.

  "We need to get away from the superstars and just recognise the season that has been played."

  Though wanting to stray away from the "superstar" tag for Ballon d'Or selection, Hingst reserved special praise for Chelsea and Australia forward Sam Kerr.

  "The interesting part is, that I always had a problem with just this one big superstar because soccer is a team sport and it took me some time to realise that you need those superstars," Hingst added.

  "Definitely, Sam Kerr is one of them. It took some time for us in Germany to recognise her as much. She became really big when she was in America, an absolute superstar.

  "Now then going to England and it's just tremendous. You need those figures because they are idols. Girls are talking about, 'I want to be Sam Kerr', the boys are talking about her, so you need those big names.

  "For example, now you have Alex Morgan just retiring from the women's game. She was one of those superstars as well. [Megan] Rapinoe from America also retired. So who's the next?"

• ​Nashville SC v Chicago Fire: Callaghan keen to build on first win

  B.J. Callaghan is desperate for Nashville SC to build on his first win at the helm when they host the Chicago Fire in MLS on Wednesday.

  Nashville lost nine of 10 games – going down in a penalty shoot-out after drawing the other – either side of Callaghan's appointment, but they finally turned the corner on Saturday.

  Goals from Alexandre Muyl and Hany Mukhtar fired them to a 2-0 win over Atlanta United, and Callaghan sees Wednesday's clash with Chicago – who are level with

  Nashville in the Eastern Conference standings – as an opportunity to build some momentum.

  "We were pleased with the performance we had, we've talked about having consistent performances and stacking them up," Callaghan said.

  "It's a quick turnaround, so everything we've been doing leading into Chicago has been about focusing on ourselves and making sure the guys recover.

  "Then we'll just focus on the things we're good at, try to get better at those things, and we'll apply some of those ideas to the challenge that Chicago will bring. 

  "They're probably looking at us the same way as we're looking at them, as a game where they want to earn three points."

  Chicago also halted a miserable run of six games without a win (one draw, five defats) by beating the New York Red Bulls 2-1 last time out, moving within four points of the wild-card places.

  "It's about time! It feels great, because I think we faced some adversity," Klopas said. 

  "People faced adversity and stepped up, so huge credit to the team as a whole. It's important that we're still in this thing, now we have to go on the road and keep fighting."

  PLAYERS TO WATCH 

  Nashville SC – Hany Mukhtar 

  Mukhtar has scored two hat-tricks against the Fire in his MLS career, one of seven players to record multiple hat-tricks against a single opponent. 

  No player in MLS history has recorded three hat-tricks against a single opponent.

  Chicago Fire – Georgios Koutsias 

  Koutsias has scored on each of his last two appearances. Two Fire players (Maren Haile-Selassie and Hugo Cuypers) have already scored in at least three straight games this year. 

  The only previous seasons in which three different Fire players had streaks of three or more games with a goal were 2018 and 1998.

  MATCH PREDICTION – NASHVILLE SC

  The Fire's 1-0 home win over Nashville on July 8 was their first win in the teams' head-to-head series, after Nashville had gone unbeaten through the first four encounters (two wins, two draws).

  Nashville ended an eight-match losing streak in MLS action on Saturday, beating Atlanta United 2-0 to also end a run of allowing multiple goals in eight successive games.

  They might be confident of repeating the trick, with Chicago only winning three of their last 21 road games in all competitions (six draws, 12 defeats).

  OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

  Nashville SC – 46.3%

  Chicago Fire – 27.1%

  Draw – 26.6%

• Ronaldo can reach 1,000-goal milestone before retirement - Jorge Andrade

  Cristiano Ronaldo is capable of reaching 1,000 career goals as long as he continues to look after his body, according to Jorge Andrade.

  The five-time Ballon d'Or winner netted his 900th goal for club and country in Portugal's 2-1 Nations League win over Croatia on 5 September.

  Ronaldo then added to his tally with a late winner in the 2-1 victory over Scotland three days later, setting him on his way to reaching the four-figure milestone.

  Former Portugal star Jorge Andrade, speaking at the Thinking Football Summit organised by Liga Portugal, backed his compatriot to do just that.

  "With Cristiano Ronaldo, nothing is impossible," Andrade said to Stats Perform. 

  "Since we've watched football, the idea of the 1,000 goals is associated with our great idol, Pele. 

  "But nowadays, both Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have managed to overcome other idols, Diego Maradona and Pele. 

  "They managed to be the highlight of the football game in a short time. It's not surprising Ronaldo can break that record. He looks after his body. 

  "He has a history of very few injuries. In terms of the Portuguese national team and the league he is in, he manages his efforts well."

  Ronaldo has scored 132 of his goals for Portugal, with whom he won Euro 2016, while the other 769 have come at club level.

  The 39-year-old has scored 68 times for current club Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, where he has spent the past 20 months.

  While Ronaldo continues to score freely in the Middle East, long-time rival Messi is now plying his trade in the United States with Inter Miami.

  Andrade, best remembered for his time at Deportivo during his playing career, believes both deserve credit for taking on challenges elsewhere.

  "The most important thing for them is that they share the experiences they have even in adverse environments," he said. 

  "For example, Messi now plays in MLS. It's a difficult league; it's a league that doesn't have much visibility. 

  "He managed to be there and increase visibility. Cristiano Ronaldo went to Saudi Arabia and it's a complicated environment. 

  "He increased the visibility of that championship, making it attractive for other players to play who had just the five major leagues as the main goal to play.

  "In other words, these two players have changed the world of football."