Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri was awarded the men’s Ballon d’Or on Monday after securing a fourth consecutive Premier League title and winning Euro 2024. However, Real Madrid boycotted the ceremony in protest.
The decision to award the prize for the world’s best player to the deep-lying midfielder was unexpected, with Real Madrid’s Liga and Champions League double-winner Vinicius Junior widely regarded as the pre-ceremony favourite.
Hours before the festivities in Paris, the Spanish club announced that its delegation would not attend the ceremony at the Châtelet Theatre, citing perceived disrespect towards Vinicius.
Rodri, 28, played a pivotal role as City fended off Arsenal to clinch the Premier League title last season. He was also named Player of the Tournament at Euro 2024, where Spain emerged victorious in Germany.
Despite French organisers insisting that the identity of the winner was closely guarded, news appeared to have leaked, prompting Madrid to announce its boycott hours before the event.
Earlier, Barcelona and Spain star Aitana Bonmati won her second consecutive women’s Ballon d’Or, after leading her club to an historic continental quadruple and securing the Nations League with Spain.
Real Madrid’s No-Show
Drama unfolded hours before the ceremony as Spanish and European champions Real Madrid declared that, if Vinicius was not the winner, his teammate Dani Carvajal should receive the honour.
Like Vinicius, Carvajal scored in Madrid’s 2-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final at Wembley.
“If the award criteria don’t favour Vinicius, then they should favour Carvajal,” Real Madrid told AFP. “Since that is not the case, it’s clear the Ballon d’Or-UEFA does not respect Real Madrid. And Real Madrid will not attend an event where it is not respected.”
Real Madrid’s nominees included Kylian Mbappe, Antonio Rudiger, Fede Valverde, and Jude Bellingham.
The Ballon d’Or winner is chosen from a shortlist by an international jury of 100 specialist journalists. Its organisers, the Amaury group—which owns L’Équipe and France Football—denied any leak of the successor to last year’s winner Lionel Messi and maintained that “no player or club” was informed in advance.
‘Best in His Position’
City manager Pep Guardiola has described Rodri as “the best in his position.”
“He can do everything: the quality, he reads the game, his mentality, he’s always ready,” Guardiola said. “He’s excellent in so many aspects… his presence, his physicality, he’s a complete player.”
Alongside his precise passing and ball-winning skills, the former Atletico Madrid player also has a knack for crucial goals for both club and country.
His goal secured City’s first Champions League in 2023, and he scored vital goals for Spain, including an equaliser in their Euro 2024 last-16 tie against Georgia.
“We have Rodri, who is a perfect computer; he manages everything, emotions and moments, in a masterful way—a great help to everyone,” said Spain’s Euros-winning coach, Luis de la Fuente, as he praised Rodri’s guidance of his young teammates into the quarter-finals.
Rodri’s central role is such that each of Manchester City’s past four Premier League defeats occurred when the player Guardiola calls “irreplaceable” was not in the squad.
Rodri is unbeaten in his last 52 Premier League appearances, a streak that dates back to February 2023.
City currently top the Premier League, but their hopes of a record-breaking fifth consecutive title took a blow in September when Rodri sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury, sidelining him for the season.
AFP
