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Rodri beat Vinicius Jr to the 2024 men’s Ballon d’Or by a small margin of just 41 points, the organisers of the prestigious annual prize have revealed.
The Manchester City and Spain midfielder pipped the Brazilian forward to the individual award, prompting Vinicius Jr and Real Madrid to boycott the ceremony in Paris.
Details reported by L’Equipe ahead of a full release of voting results by organisers France Football show that Rodri amassed 1170 points to Vinicius’s 1129.
Five of the jurors did not select Rodri in their ballot, while Vinicius was snubbed by three individuals. Ademola Lookman was a surprise recipient of a first-place vote having helped Atalanta to Europa League triumph, with Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Lautaro Martinez also topping lists alongside a number of Real Madrid players.
The Spanish club did not attend the ceremony after a glittering season that saw them secure both La Liga and Champions League triumphs. While Vinicius was favoured by many for the award, Real Madrid were also angered that Rodri was preferred to international teammate Dani Carvajal after the pair’s roles in Spain’s Euro 2024 triumph.
“If the award criteria doesn’t give it to Vinícius as the winner, then those same criteria should point to Carvajal as the winner,” said Madrid in a statement. “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.”
