Manchester Metropolis’s Spanish midfielder Rodri receives the Ballon d’Or award through the 2024 Ballon d’Or France Soccer award ceremony on the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on October 28, 2024. — AFP
Manchester Metropolis and Spain midfielder Rodri was awarded the boys’s Ballon d’Or on Monday after profitable a fourth consecutive Premier League title and Euro 2024.
The choice to award the prize for the world’s finest participant to the midfielder got here as a shock, with Actual Madrid’s La Liga and Champions League double winner Vinicius Jr broadly seen because the favorite.
Hours earlier than the ceremony in Paris, the Spanish membership introduced its delegation wouldn’t attend the ceremony at Chatelet Theatre due to what it perceived as a snub of Vinicius.
The Spanish and European champions stated if Vinicius was not the winner, then the award ought to go to his teammate Dani Carvajal.
Just like the Brazilian, Carvajal scored within the 2-0 victory towards Borussia Dortmund within the Champions League ultimate at Wembley.
“If the award criteria doesn’t give it to Vinicius as the winner, then those same criteria should point to Carvajal as the winner,” Actual Madrid instructed AFP.
“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.”
In the meantime, Rodri, 28, performed a key function as Man Metropolis held off Arsenal to win the Premier League title final season and was named participant of the event at Euro 2024 as unfancied Spain emerged triumphant in Germany.
Rodri was diplomatic when addressing the query of Actual’s no-show in his post-award press convention.
“They have their decision, they didn’t want to be here for their reasons,” he stated. “I just focus on my club and my teammates.”
Moreover, Barcelona and Spain star Aitana Bonmati earlier received her second successive ladies’s Ballon d’Or, after main her membership to a historic continental quadruple of titles and claiming the Nations League together with her nation.
Final yr, probably the most prestigious award within the soccer world went to Argentina’s Lionel Messi for the eighth time.
