 "Spanish midfielder Rodri kisses the Ballon d'Or trophy at the ceremony in Paris. Reuters")
Real Madrid fans vented out their anger after Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri won the 2024 Ballon d’Or award over Vinicius Junior, who plays for the Los Blancos and Brazil. Rodri, who clinched the English Premier League title with Manchester City and won Euro 2024 with Spain, received the Ballon d’Or award during an extravagant ceremony that was held in Paris on Monday.
Many had expected Vinicius to win the Ballond’Or after having helped Real Madrid win the La Liga as well as the UEFA Champions League title, but instead the forward finished second in the final rankings list.
Real Madrid fans could not hide their frustration on Vinicius being snubbed for the Ballon d’Or award, and many of them launched scathing attacks on Rodri on social media. However, while the fans thought that they were criticising Manchester City’s Rodri, it turns out that the fans posted negative comments on the Instagram handle of Rodrigo de Paul, the Argentina and Atletico Madrid midfielder. “How dare you rob Vini,” wrote one fan.
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“You don’t deserve ballondor," wrote another. Another supporter also felt that the 24-year-old Brazilian was “robbed”. “You robbed Vini," the fan said.
Rival fans were quick to slam Real Madrid fans for their mistake. One of them said: “Those real madrid fans are unbelievable." “Real Madrid clowns are here commenting you robbed balloon d’or. He is not Rodri he is Rodri DePaul," another supporter clarified.
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Another fan urged Madrid fans to “do their research” before commenting. “Guys, leave him alone. He’s not the one who won the Ballon d’Or. RESEARCH FIRST BEFORE HATING,” the fan said.
Rodrigo de Paul won the 2024 Copa America with Argentina and was also named in the Team of the Tournament. However, he wasn’t part of the nominees list for the 2024 Ballon d’Or. Vinicius, too, expressed disappointment after Rodri won the prestigious award and said that he will not give up that easily. I’ll do it 10 times if I have to. They’re not ready," he said.
Both Vinicius and Real Madrid boycotted the Ballon d’Or ceremony in France after getting to know that the Brazilian would not win the award. Real’s Dani Carvajal was also one of the nominees for the award.
“If the award criteria doesn’t give it to Vinicius as the winner, then those same criteria should point to Carvajal as the winner. As this was not the case, it is clear that Ballon d’Or-UEFA does not respect Real Madrid. And Real Madrid does not go where it is not respected,” Real Madrid said in a statement.