In a new interview, Kylian Mbappe has given his take on Rodri beating Real Madrid teammate Vinicius Junior to the 2024 Ballon d’Or – and he didn’t hold back with his thoughts.
It has been four months since Rodri was awarded the Ballon d’Or trophy at a ceremony in Paris.
After helping Manchester City win a record fourth successive Premier League title, the tireless midfielder was named the Euro 2024 Player of the Tournament after Spain beat England in the final.
It was seen by many as a deserved victory but controversially, Real Madrid decided to boycott the ceremony in protest of Vinicius Junior not winning the award.
In fact, Florentino Perez, Carlo Ancelotti and the nominated Los Blancos players – Jude Bellingham, Dani Carvajal, Kylian Mbappe, Federico Valverde and Antonio Rudiger – refused to attend.
Now, Vinicius’ teammate Kylian Mbappe brought up Rodri as he discussed Ousmane Dembele’s chances of winning the next Ballon d’Or during an interview with French publication Le Parisien.
Asked if Dembele has the potential to win the prestigious prize, Mbappe said: “What is a Ballon d’Or player? Rodri, is he a Ballon d’Or player for you? For me, I thought the Ballon d’Or would go to Vinicius but in the end, it was Rodri who got it.
“Today we don’t know who’s going to win the Ballon d’Or. We shouldn’t rule anyone out; all the players can be awarded, maybe even a goalkeeper. The last one I thought would go to Vinicius, but in the end, it went to Rodri.”
Mbappe added: “If I had told you three months ago, you would have said, ‘What the hell are you talking about?”
Rodri celebrated his Ballon d’Or trophy win at the Etihad. Image: Getty
As mentioned above, Real Madrid snubbed the Ballon d’Or event in October, which sparked a furious response from former France manager Raymond Domenech.
“What Real did is absolutely pathetic,” he told goal.pl. “They showed a lack of respect for football, for the other participants in the gala, for the winners. It is something downright repulsive.
“How is it possible that they demanded information about who would win when the results were still secret, hidden?
“To pressure the organisers to either tell us that ours won or we won’t come? That is something incredible. Especially since no one harassed them in these elections.”
“Real was voted the best men’s team of the year, Kylian Mbappe was the top scorer with Kane, Carlo Ancelotti the coach… But no, it wasn’t enough for them, they demanded the certainty that Vinicius had won,” Domenech added.
“Horrible, I repeat horrible behaviour from a club that calls itself great. Someone summed them up well when he said something like: “Real doesn’t start a match until it knows what the result will be.”
