Last night Manchester City and Spain lynchpin Rodri won the 2024 Ballon D’Or in controversial circumstances, with much of the football world in disagreement as to whether it should have been him or Real Madrid’s Brazilian wing wizard Vinicius Junior taking home the award.
With Real Madrid’s decision to pull all of their representatives from the iconic presentation in Paris in the aftermath of the news surfacing of Vinicius’ snub, Rodri stood alone on the podium to accept his award. Many of the world’s elite players spoke out on social media, some believing that Rodri was a deserved winner and some thinking that Vinicius’ outstanding individual displays in the UEFA Champions League were enough for him to take home the award.
Today we’re going to break down if this year’s Ballon D’Or was in fact a robbery, and why so many football fans around the world are up in arms about the decision
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Foregone Conclusion Turns Into a Dramatic Twist
Many news outlets reported weeks ago that this year’s Ballon D’Or was destined to belong to Vinicius Junior, after a series of glowing displays in big matches at the end of last season dragged Real Madrid to UCL glory once again.
However, influential Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano reported early yesterday that it was in fact going to be Rodri taking home the award, seemingly sending Real Madrid into turmoil as they anticipated one of their star men taking home the award. This piece of news seemed to have warped the argument of who actually deserved the Ballon D’Or, with Rodri one of the world’s best midfielders and a deserving winner in many people’s eyes.
Consistency vs Impact
The key to Rodri’s victory has been his incredible consistency in both a Manchester City and Spain shirt, with his unbeaten run for both club and country spanning 74 matches before City’s loss to rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup Final. This beat the previous record held by Paolo Maldini and Demetrio Albertini for AC Milan – a truly crazy feat, highlighting his importance for his team.
Rodri’s ability to also come up with important moments from the base of midfield isn’t to be ignored either – his 23 goals and assists last season for his club often occurred at important moments, with many of Manchester City’s late winners having the Spaniard’s name attached to them.
Vinicius Junior notched 35 goals and assists from the left wing for Madrid last season, but the gravity of his Champions League Final goal was an individual highlight that looked to have set him on his way to winning the award.
Vinicius’ ability to turn on the style on the biggest European nights is not to be ignored – he was Real Madrid’s key man last season along with Englishman Jude Bellingham and in many people’s eyes is a fitting winner of an award that has traditionally been won by players possessing flair, pace and attacking verve over the stability and control that Rodri brings.
International influence
However, Vinicius’ disappointing Copa America campaign with Brazil may have been what gave Rodri the advantage for this year’s iteration of the Ballon D’Or. Rodri won EURO 2024 as the best player in the tournament, capping off an outstanding 12 months, whereas Brazil once again disappointed internationally in the absence of Neymar.
Vinicius Junior has scored just five goals in a Brazil shirt at the age of 24. Neymar, often considered one of the best players to never win the Ballon D’Or, had scored an incredible 58 for The Selecao by this point in his career. In a summer where Rodri set the tone for an outstanding Spain side to win their fourth European championship, Vinicius Junior could not do the same in South America.
Conclusion
Real Madrid’s public outrage may have turned this year’s Ballon D’Or ceremony into more of a controversial event than it should have been, but there’s no denying that both Rodri and Vinicius Junior’s battle for the award this year will go down as one for the history books.
Rodri has been the world’s premier midfielder for a long time and is a worthy winner, while Vinicius Junior has a lot of his career ahead of him and will be looking at next year’s award as an opportunity to right the wrongs of this year.
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