Rodri has aimed a sly dig 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 hot favorite to pick up the award at the end of a season in which he was crucial to Real Madrid winning a rare La Liga and Champions League double. But this became apparent only a few hours before the ceremony that would be lost and the Spanish giants boycotted the entire event due to perceived disrespect –despite actually winning coaching and team awards.
Rodri was a worthy winnerhowever, guiding Manchester City to an unprecedented fourth consecutive English league title and winning Euro 2024 with Spain. His injury absence and City's struggles over the last two months have underlined just how important he was to Pep Guardiola's side.
Vini eventually won the title of FIFA's best player, but failed to win the Ballon d'Or, which is voted for by 100 journalists instead of FIFA's widest voting pool involving players and coaches, still irks him and his supporters, Ronaldo among them.
Speaking recently at the 2024 edition of the Globe Soccer Awards, the 39-year-old tagged the Ballon d'Or result. “unfair”. He said: “Vinicius Junior should have won the Ballon d'Or, in my opinion it was clear. It was unfair. That's why I love the Globe Soccer Awards, they are honest.”
Rodri has now called out what he perceives as double standards from Ronaldo, who is 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. neither.
“This year, the voting journalists decided that I should win it.