A beautiful mess that also marks the future of the Ballon d’Or. The day of the presentation of the prestigious trophy turned into a nightmare both for L’Equipe, owner of France Football and, consequently, organizer of the Ballon d’Or event, and for Real Madrid, already ready to praise Vinicius Jr. It’s all the fault of the suspense… From this year, it was decided not to notify the winner before the gala evening, so as to make the event more interesting and less predictable. A good idea, considering that, in the past, the name of the winner was known days before the evening. Everyone was invited but without revealing the winner. However, especially in Madrid, they were sure of Vinicius Jr.’s triumph, to the point of organizing a sumptuous party in his honor.
Too bad that, in reality, the envelope with the winner’s name contained another candidate… As soon as Florentino Perez understood that Vinicius Jr. would not win the Ballon d’Or, he reacted angrily: the Paris trip prohibited for every member of his team club and Golden Ball emptied of its value. Everyone at home, no Los Blancos exponents in Paris to pay homage to Rodri the Ballon d’Or…
The harsh reaction of the French media confirms how poorly the choice of Florentino Perez was digested: “The Madrid club has chosen, without class, to trample on a great value of this sport which consists in respecting the winners”. Honestly, the answer makes sense. However, the question that arises is: why didn’t Vinicius Jr., the big favorite, win?
The answer was given by Equipe, explaining that the presence of many Real Madrid stars in the final vote (Carvajal and Bellingham) probably took some points away from teammate Vinicius Jr., favoring the ascension to the throne of Rodri. Satisfied with the motivation? Personally not much…
The feeling is that the Ballon d’Or is a complicated prize to award, especially today that there are no longer the Messis and Cristiano Ronaldos of the past (or, to go further back in time, all the football aces who made the football an absolute spectacle).
Rodri is fantastic, Vinicius Jr. too but, honestly, they don’t seem to be able to sit at the table with someone who, truly, was pure magic. The real problem is that there is a lack of top premium level players. Most of those we have available are excellent players but not absolute stars. It is not easy to choose the best because no one can stand out from the others. All very strong, no one out of category. Rodri’s victory (who I respect very much) reminded me a bit of Sammer’s in 1996. A great midfielder, author of a stellar season, but not a champion as I understand those who love football. For the record, Sammer won with 144 points, three more than a certain Ronaldo (the Phenomenon)… Also on the podium were Alan Shearer and, in fourth place, Alessandro Del Piero. It is enough to mention these four giants of world football to realize that France Football has a problem and it is not Real Madrid’s anger but the lack of absolute champions… which is the real problem of football today!
PS I would have liked to have witnessed the moment when Vinicius Jr. was warned that he would not win the Ballon d’Or…