Manchester City midfielder has hit back at Cristiano Ronaldo for questioning his Ballon d’Or award. The Portuguese veteran recently said that Vinicius Jr deserved the award more than Rodri as the Brazilian won the Champions League and also scored in the final.
Rodri played 63 games for club and country in 2023/24 and lost only one of them: the FA Cup final against Manchester United. Rodri had became the second men’s player born in Spain to win the sport’s most prestigious individual prize, and the first since former Barcelona star Luis Suárez claimed it in 1960.
“In my opinion, he [Vinícius] deserved to win the golden ball [Ballon d’Or award],” Ronaldo recently said. “It was unfair in my opinion. I say here in front of everybody. They give it to Rodri, he deserved it too, but they should have given it to Vinícius because he won the Champions League and scored in the final.”
Asked about Ronaldo’s comments, Rodri told Diario AS: “A surprise, really, because he knows better than anyone how this award works and, above all, how the winner is chosen.
“This year the journalists who vote have considered that I should win it. Probably, these same journalists were the ones who at some point voted for him to win, and I imagine that then he would agree.”
Real Madrid boycotted the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris in October after Rodri received the award over Vinícius.
Rodri, who was ruled out in September for the rest of the season due to an ACL injury, said winning the Ballon d’Or has changed his life.
“It has changed my life,” he said. “Many things that I could do before, obviously, I can no longer do. But hey, it is for a good reason … I have the philosophy that in life you have to take things as they are given to you.
“There is no need to complain when things are not the way you want or go crazy when you win a Ballon d’Or. God has given me what he has given me and I am extremely grateful. I have to deal with everything, including injuries, and move forward.”
It is worth mentioning that Ronaldo has won a total of five Ballon d’Or in his glorious career, the second-most after Lionel Messi.
