Soccer Football – Ballon d’Or – Theatre du Chatelet, Paris, France – October 28, 2024 Spain’s and Manchester City’s Rodri receives the Ballon d’Or from George Weah as showing on the screen the second Vinicius Junior and third and Jude Bellingham, no Real Madrid member attended the ceremony. (REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier)
Since he was announced as the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner on Monday at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France, Rodri winning the highest individual honor in world football over Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr has been a divisive topic in the sport.
While the defensive midfielder was an important figure in Manchester City’s English Premier League and Spain’s European Championship win, the Brazil and Real Madrid winger was touted as the favorite to win the award until Sunday. Even Rodri’s club manager has stated that had Vincius won the award given by France football, it would have been ‘more deserved’.
When asked about it by the reporters, Pep Guardiola on Tuesday said, “Of course, if (Vinicius) won, it would have been more than deserved.”
Explaining his point of view, Guardiola cited the instance of Erling Haaland. The City striker had been nominated for the award in 2023 after the English champions completed a treble but was eclipsed by Lionel Messi, who had won the World Cup with Argentina in the previous season.
“Erling won the Treble, scored more than 50 goals. I said to him ‘just being there, you have to be so happy’. I said the same to Rodri. If you are in the first two, three or four, it’s exceptional. You have to be so satisfied,” Guardiola said.
“Last season, should Erling have won? Yes. Should Messi have won? Yes. It’s not important (the winner). It represents that you and your team-mates have done something really nice that season,” he added.
Vinicius alongside the rest of his Madrid teammates and coach Carlo Ancelotti decided to skip the awards ceremony in the French capital. Per reports swirling from the Spanish capital, the club made the decision to boycott the event after learning that the Brazilian wasn’t winning the men’s best player award.
Madrid went on to be named as the club of the year (male category) while Carlo Ancelotti was named as the manager of the year.
“I congratulate Carlo Ancelotti for winning the best manager in the world, but it was (Gian Piero) Gasperini or Luis de la Fuente. Of course they deserved it, but people voted and Carlo also deserved it,” Guardiola said.
“This event has to be a joy, people have to accept the results. As a club, we are so happy that Rodri is the first player in this club to win this award. It’s like (winning) the Premier League and Champions League. We are so proud,” he added.
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First uploaded on: 29-10-2024 at 22:17 IST
