Manchester City midfielder Rodri has revealed that neither Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, nor Karim Benzema congratulated him after he won the 2024 Ballon d’Or award.
The 28-year-old midfielder beat Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior to the award, becoming the first Spanish player to win the accolade since Luis Suárez in 1960.
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Rodri’s win stirred controversy, as the entire Real Madrid institution boycotted the ceremony upon discovering their player finished as runner-up. Former
Los Blancos captain Karim Benzema, who won the award in 2022, also questioned the result, calling Vinicius the deserved recipient of this year’s Ballon d’Or.
It may come as little surprise, then, that Rodri revealed he received no congratulatory message from the Frenchman, nor from Madrid midfielder Luka Modrić, the 2018 Ballon d’Or winner.
He also shared that he had not been congratulated by Ronaldo and Messi—the two most decorated Ballon d’Or winners of this generation.
What Rodri said
In a recent interview with Dario As, as quoted by Madrid Xtra, he said,
“Messages from previous Ballon d’Or winners? Let me check… There are none from Messi, Cristiano, Modrić or Benzema (laughs).”
The Manchester City midfielder is currently sidelined after suffering an acute cruciate ligament (ACL) injury picked up against Arsenal.
