France Football’s chief editor Vincent Garcia has tried to explain why Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr. did not win the 2024 Ballon d’Or. He suggested that Jude Bellingham and Dani Carvajal’s presence in the top 5 hurt Vinicius Jr.’s chances. Garcia also insisted that Real Madrid did not know Manchester City midfielder Rodri would win the award, stating the decision was kept from even the winning player.
Vinicius Jr. Lost the 2024 Ballon d’Or to Rodri
Over the last couple of months, all major reporters and outlets have been tipping Real Madrid superstar Vinicius Jr. to win the Ballon d’Or However, on Monday (October 28) — the day of the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris — rumors started circulating about a late twist. One by one, all reporters began claiming that Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri had won the award. Shortly after, reports emerged that Vinicius Jr., coach Carlo Ancelotti, president Florentino Perez, and almost the entire Real Madrid entourage had decided not to attend the Ballon d’Or gala in Paris.
Rodri, who helped Man City to the Premier League title and Spain to the 2024 European Championship, eventually won the award, and Vinicius Jr. took to X (formerly Twitter) to suggest that the decision was unjust.
The Brazilian, who scored 24 goals and provided 11 assists in 39 games last season, wrote:
“I’ll do it 10x [times] if I have to. They’re not ready.”
According to GOAL, Vinicius Jr. believes his vocal fight against racism cost him the award.
France Football Editor Explains Vinicius Jr.’s Defeat to Rodri
Fans and many notable members of the soccer community have hit out at France Football for not awarding the Ballon d’Or to Vinicius Jr. Garcia, the editor of the magazine, has now weighed in on the controversy, suggesting Real Madrid’s 4-0 defeat to Barcelona in El Clasico may have contributed to the result.
He said:
“I can guarantee you that no one from City or Real Madrid knew, maybe they had a feeling. Maybe El Clásico didn’t help. I don’t know. It was close. Vinícius probably suffered from the presence of Jude Bellingham and Dani Carvajal in Top 5.
“Real Madrid put pressure on me to know if Vini won, and maybe my silence made them think Viní lost, so they didn’t show up. I’m unpleasantly surprised, but I don’t wanna spend the night talking about it, I want to talk about our winner, Rodri. All favorite clubs insisted on having the information of who won, they didn’t know, we made it very clear, this year, the winner will not be notified before.”
Jude Bellingham finished third in the rankings whereas Dani Carvajal finished fourth. All three were integral in helping Los Blancos win La Liga, the UEFA Champions League, and the Supercopa de Espana last season.
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