Manchester City midfielder Rodri claimed the ultimate individual prize in football last night by winning the Ballon d’Or.
The Spaniard was rewarded for his brilliance over the past year and has been officially recognised as the best player in the world.
Rodri’s win, predictably, has been quite divisive.
The Manchester City man was going head-to-head with Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid for the prize, and many felt the Brazilian deserved to win.
He himself also seemingly felt he was a deserving winner. But rather than respond classily to a frustrating setback, Vinicius posted a fiery message after failing to win the Ballon d’Or.
Vinicius could learn a thing or two from Erling Haaland after Ballon d’Or failure
There is no denying that last night will have been frustrating for Vinicius.
He had a superb year, although the majority of his top performances came in a Real Madrid shirt rather than a Brazil one.
There were suggestions leading up to last night’s ceremony in Paris that Vinicius knew he wasn’t going to win the Ballon d’Or.
Upon learning that, he and all the other Real Madrid delegates decided not to attend the ceremony, in what was truly an embarrassing decision.
Deciding not to attend, and then not congratulating Rodri once the Man City star had won, showed a lack of grace from Vinicius to a fellow professional. It also showed both him and his club to be extremely entitled.
As if Real Madrid have not had a stranglehold on this award for so many years with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Luke Modric and Karim Benzema.
Certainly, his response last night was a far cry away from how Erling Haaland took the same setback last year.
As was the case this year, there were suggestions heading into the 2023 ceremony that Messi was to win his eighth Ballon d’Or.
But Haaland took it on the chin and attended. And not only that, the Norwegian striker then publicly congratulated Messi on social media.
This, despite the fact that there was a very strong argument for Haaland winning over Messi.
A poor look from Vinicius, Rodri deserved to win
You just know that if the shoe was on the other foot, and Vinicius had won over Rodri, the Man City midfielder would have been genuinely happy for his rival and he would have congratulated him.
It is such a shame Vinicius made the decisions he did last night.
Some may say his competitiveness is admirable. But it’s just a really poor look for a sensational footballer. The best thing to do would have been to take the Haaland approach and just congratulate the winner.
Vinicius has the talent to be able to win Ballon d’Ors in the future, so it’s disappointing to see him act as though he’ll never get the opportunity again.
Rodri is a very deserving winner of the Ballon d’Or, and in time, hopefully, Vinicius will come to realise that.
