Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri on Monday was awarded the men’s Ballon d’Or after winning a fourth consecutive English Premier League title and UEFA Euro 2024, but Real Madrid boycotted the ceremony.
The decision to award the prize for the world’s best player to the midfielder came as a surprise, with Real Madrid’s La Liga and UEFA Champions League double winner Vinicius Junior widely seen as the favorite.
Hours before the ceremony in Paris, the Spanish club announced its delegation would not attend the ceremony at Chatelet Theatre because of what it perceived as a snub of Vinicius.
Photo: AFP
Rodri, 28, played a key role as City held off Arsenal to win the Premier League title last season and was named player of the tournament at Euro 2024 as unfancied Spain emerged triumphant in Germany.
Rodri was diplomatic when addressing the question of Real Madrid’s no-show in his post-award news conference.
“They have their decision, they didn’t want to be here for their reasons,” he said. “I just focus on my club and my teammates.”
Despite the French organizers insisting that the identity of the winner was a closely-guarded secret this year, the news appeared to have leaked ahead of the festivities.
Barcelona and Spain star Aitana Bonmati earlier won her second successive women’s Ballon d’Or after leading her club to a historic continental quadruple of titles and claiming the UEFA Nations League with her national side.
The drama started hours before the ceremony as Spanish and European champions Real Madrid said that if Vinicius was not the winner, then the award should go to his teammate Dani Carvajal.
Like the Brazilian, Carvajal scored in the 2-0 victory against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final at Wembley Stadium in London.
Vinicius scored 24 goals and made 11 assists in 39 matches across all competitions for Madrid as he led the club to three titles last season.
“If the award criteria doesn’t give it to Vinicius as the winner, then those same criteria should point to Carvajal as the winner,” Real Madrid said.
“As this was not the case, it is clear that Ballon d’Or-UEFA does not respect Real Madrid, and Real Madrid does not go where it is not respected,” the club said.
The Real Madrid contingent of nominees also included Kylian Mbappe, Antonio Rudiger, Fede Valverde and Jude Bellingham.
The winner of the Ballon d’Or is chosen from a shortlist by an international jury of 100 specialist journalists.
The organizers, Amaury group which owns sports daily L’Equipe and France Football magazine, denied that the name of the successor to last year’s men’s winner Lionel Messi had leaked and said that “no player or club” knew in advance who had won.
Bonmati, 26, joined her Barcelona teammate Alexia Putellas as the only women to win the Ballon d’Or twice since the award’s inauguration in 2018.
“This cannot be achieved alone, I am very lucky to be surrounded by players who make me better every day,” Bonmati said.
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