Five days later, the tension has still not subsided. Crowned Golden Ball to everyone's surprise, the Spanish midfielder Rodri won the supreme individual distinction in football ahead of Vinicius Jr, announced as the big favorite for many weeks, but also ahead of Jude Bellingham and Dani Carvajal, two other players of the Real Madrid. And the least we can say is that the victory of the mastermind of Manchester City really did not please the Merengues.
Very angry, the Spanish club boycotted the ceremony organized last Monday at the Châtelet theater in Paris. No player, member of the technical staff or manager was in fact present on site despite the numerous trophies won by Real, such as the title of best team of the year or that of best coach, gleaned by Carlo Ancelotti. The team holding the record for the number of Champions League titles (15) even informed the Spanish press that it suspected UEFA, with whom it has been in latent conflict for several years over the Super League, of 'interference.
For several days, comments attributed to the president of the body, Aleksander Ceferin, have been circulating on social networks. The latter would have clearly positioned himself in favor of Rodri compared to Vinicius. “They themselves should review Vinicius' season to see what he does with the referees, players and supporters in each match,” we read on several parody accounts created on X (formerly Twitter). A defensive midfielder (Rodri) who hasn't lost in 72 games, has been involved in more goals than Vinicius and scored 12! »
But the Slovenian UEFA president signaled the end of recess this Saturday morning by sending the EFE press agency a press release affirming that this statement was “false”. “We categorically deny the assertions circulating about UEFA's alleged comments on the Ballon d'Or result,” explains the body. Neither UEFA nor its president has made a statement or commented on the results of the Ballon d'Or selection. Such information is completely unfounded and does not reflect reality. »
The governing body of European football even reserves the right to “take legal action against any person involved in the dissemination of these alleged statements”.
