Even though the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris is yet to start, the results of the gala have emerged in the media and the overwhelming favourite for the Golden Orb, Vinicius Jr., will not be taking home the prize.
Instead, as per reports, Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri is set to win the Ballon d’Or ahead of not only Vinicius but two more Real Madrid stars in Dani Carvajal and Jude Bellingham.
Naturally, the news has come as a big shock at Real Madrid, who have decided to boycott tonight’s ceremony in light of recent developments while also questioning the criteria for deciding the winner.
Outrage at Real Madrid
Building on that, MARCA reports that there is an overwhelming disappointment and anger at Real Madrid over what they consider an injustice with Vinicius Jr. being snubbed.
So much so that, sources from the club state that the Ballon d’Or award has lost all value for them and “no longer exists for us right now”.
In fact, Madrid has cancelled the special programming they had planned on RMTV for the Ballon d’Or, which was set to last five hours. There is no longer any trace of the Ballon d’Or at Valdebebas and the Santiago Bernabeu.
News started to filter in on Sunday
As per the report, it was yesterday morning when Real Madrid started receiving information that perhaps Vinicius would not be the winner.
It was all speculation at first, but the reports were becoming increasingly louder at Valdebebas and the delegation started to doubt the outcome.
This noon, with the players at Valdebebas, the decision was finally made not to travel to Paris. Right now the comment is unanimous: “The Ballon d’Or no longer exists.”
Instead, the directive at Real Madrid is now clear at the moment: “We need to focus on the competition.”
After the initial shock and disappointment, manager Carlo Ancelotti is clear that the team has to focus on the day-to-day and the competition, especially after the 4-0 defeat by Barcelona.
At Real Madrid, the decision came as a surprise because all the information they had received up until Saturday was that Vinicius would be the Ballon d’Or.
The fact that a delegation of 50 people, with club president Florentino Perez at the helm, was planning to fly to Paris for tonight’s ceremony makes it clear that in Madrid they took it for granted that he would win the award.
But with that being no longer the case, Real Madrid will boycott the event and instead revert their focus back to on-field action as they get set to face Valencia later this weekend.