Rodri is a deserving Ballon D’Or winner – no matter what Real Madrid may think

Real Madrid may have set the tone here – quite spectacularly – but… Rodri winning the Ballon d’Or really isn’t controversial, is it?

If Vinicius Junior had won the award, as Madrid had long expected, it would have been well deserved. And as Madrid argued on Monday after deciding not to attend the ceremony in Paris, there was a good argument for Dani Carvajal to win the ceremony too.

Whatever the outcome, these are, by nature, highly subjective awards; Journalists from the top 100 FIFA ranking nations are allowed to cast their votes, and one of the great Ballon d’Or traditions is to uncover the more left-wing voting patterns.

Last year, the Cameroonian representative did not vote for Erling Haaland or Lionel Messi, the two standout top two players, but did include Andre Onana in his top five. And why not?

But the way Madrid reacted to the news that one of their boys didn’t win this year’s edition makes one think that the actual winner is one of those unconventional votes or the result of a dodgy chain. Pull (like when the goalposts suddenly moved in 2021 and Lionel Messi, brilliant as he always was, won instead of Robert Lewandowski).

To say that Madrid threw their toys out of the stroller would be an understatement. There were some rumors on Sunday that Rodri might come out on top, but Monday’s front page in Marca still celebrated Monday as the day Vinicius would win the Ballon d’Or.

By Monday afternoon, however, the world had discovered that the only way Rodri would actually exist was through Madrid’s very public and very brazen meltdown. They quickly told journalists that “the Ballon d’Or and UEFA don’t respect us” and that the award “no longer exists for us.”

They say they will not go where they are not respected, which is why the expedition of 50 staff and players, including president Florentino Perez and club legend Emiliano Butragueno, was canceled on the day of the gala. Real Madrid TV had planned a special broadcast that was supposed to last five hours, but that too was canceled.

Part of the reason they’re so upset is because they believe the award criteria dictate that Vinicius should be the winner, and if not, then it should be Carvajal.

For anyone wondering, the criteria are as follows:

• Individual performance last season
• Team success last season
• Player behavior and fair play during the season

And that finally brings us back to Rodri. Only the most one-eyed fan would read these criteria and think they only apply to one club. There’s a lot to admire about how Madrid view their place in world football – let’s face it, they’re the biggest club on the planet and when they call themselves the kings of Europe no one can argue – but they don’t own the sport either divine right to the most prestigious awards? To outsiders, the idea that they would even suggest that UEFA does not respect them is absurd.

Rodri and Vinicius faced each other in the Champions League last season (Photo by Federico Titone/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Perhaps the importance of the Champions League to Madrid and the inevitable likelihood of them winning it, no matter how close they are to elimination, has clouded their judgment when it comes to that Ballon d’Or.

The Champions League has always been an important factor in who wins individual awards, but international tournaments have always had a similar importance, and although Vinicius has been important to Madrid’s successes, so has Rodri. He has been an integral part for both City and Spain, while Vinicius has struggled at times for Brazil.

Considering that Rodri had a guard of honor on the pitch after Spain won the European Championship and he was the center of attention as the team celebrated with the trophy (in the exact spot where Madrid parade their trophies), you might think that it was the Spaniards The home champions might have noticed everything he did when he wasn’t wearing the City jersey.

(Ben Roberts Photo/Getty Images)

Rodri won player of the tournament at the European Championships and the Golden Ball at the Club World Cup, ironically a trophy that means more in Spain than in England. His influence for City is evident both when he is playing and when he is not playing. Last season, the period on which this Ballon d’Or is based, the general rule was that if City played, they won and if he didn’t play, they lost.

When Rodri found his feet in Manchester three years ago, Guardiola emphasized his consistency. “The defensive midfielder always has to be a seven or an eight (out of 10), he can’t be a three or a four because that would destroy the team.”

In subsequent seasons, and particularly last season, he scored nines or tens in the vast majority of games and it is important to remember that, despite his own call for a break, he started 26 of City’s 29 games of 2024, missing two of the FA Cup games.

Of course, when Rodri plays he is at the heart of everything City do. He had the most touches and passes in the entire league in 2023-24, and that comes with different needs. He must understand what to do in every situation: when he is under pressure, which is often the case, he must quickly find the right escape route. If he has more time, he has to use it. He does that without exception.

In this way he sets the pace of City’s game. He doesn’t just move the ball sideways, he forces the ball – at the right time, which is of course vital for Pep Guardiola.

He has also become a real goalscoring threat over the last two seasons, particularly in the 2023/24 season – by the Ballon d’Or criteria he would probably have been higher up the table last year given his Champions League final winner must be on the list, although you can’t really say it more fairly than Messi pulling the strings in a World Cup victory.

With his physical presence and his ability to break down opponents’ attacks, he has become a real asset in every area of ​​the pitch and in every phase of the game, with and off the ball, and that also applies to Spain.

When it comes to Ballon d’Or candidates, there are never really going to be undeserving winners, and that means there will always be some very unfortunate runners-up, but the problem with Madrid’s reaction to all this is that you have to make your feelings known Worldwide, they have publicly written off another very deserving candidate.

A candidate they were reportedly keen on signing, at least until he suffered a serious knee injury in September. Not showing up to the awards ceremony is one thing, but pretending someone outside the club is such an undeserving winner that it causes a scandal is quite another. Regardless of whether they want to negotiate with him in the future or not, it is disrespectful.

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It’s also something that has impacted the celebrations to some extent, with the boycott of Madrid being almost as much of a story as the winner themselves. That’s something Madrid may regret in the future, and no doubt the noble Carlo Ancelotti will have to deal with it with dignity.

Although this was probably the case, none of this should dampen the pride that Rodri, City and Spain should feel at this completely logical and very well deserved success.

(Top photo: Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)