Rodri took a sly shot at Cristiano Ronaldo after the veteran superstar questioned the Manchester City midfielder who won the 2024 Ballon d’Or ahead of Vinicius Junior.
Vinicius was heavy favorite to win the award after a season in which he was instrumental in Real Madrid winning a rare La Liga and Champions League double. But it became clear only a few hours before the ceremony that he will miss and the Spanish giants boycotted the entire event due to a perceived lack of respect –despite actually winning coaching and team awards.
Rodri was a worthy winnerhowever, guiding Manchester City to an unprecedented fourth consecutive English title and winning Euro 2024 with Spain. His absence through injury and City’s struggles in recent months have underlined just how important he has been to Pep Guardiola.
Vini eventually won the FIFA Men’s Player of the Year, but failed to win the Ballon d’Or, which is voted for by 100 journalists, not FIFA’s wider voting circle which includes players and coaches, still irks him and his supporters, Ronaldo among them.
Speaking recently at the 2024 Globe Soccer Awards, the 39-year-old marked the Ballon d’Or result “unfair”. He said: “Vinicius Junior should have won the Ballon d’Or, in my opinion that was clear. It was unfair. That’s why I love the Globe Soccer Awards, they are honest.”
Rodri has now called out what he sees as double standards from Ronaldo, himself a five-time Ballon d’Or winner. “It was a surprise, really, because he knows better than anyone how [the Ballon d’Or] works and, above all, how the winner is chosen,” said Rodri AS.
“This year, the voting journalists decided that I should win. It was probably those same journalists who at some point voted for him to win and I imagine he would have agreed then.”
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