Ballon d’Or: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo headlined the awards for over a decade since 2008. (Reuters)
Manchester City’s Rodri winning the Ballon d’Or on Monday marked the first occasion a Spaniard won the prestigious award since 1960. His club manager Pep Guardiola believes while other Spanish players did come close, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were prime reasons behind them not winning the award.
“In the last decade, Spanish football has made such a difference – they’ve won a World Cup, a Euros – and Spain were never able to win this award before,” said Guardiola, who termed Rodri’s win as a fitting tribute to the importance of Spanish players in 21st century football.
The former Barcelona manager added, “I remember once we nominated three players from La Masia. Xavi and Iniesta couldn’t win it because Messi’s a monster and nobody could beat him – just Cristiano [Ronaldo]. He’s a monster and the father of the monster is Messi.”
2024 Ballon d’Or awards marked the first instance of neither Messi nor Ronaldo being named in the final 30-men shortlist for the award. While Messi has won the honor more than any other player in the sport’s history – eight – Ronaldo is second in the all-time tally with five wins.
Messi was the winner of the Ballon d’Or last year, after a World Cup win alongside Argentina the previous season in Qatar, where he finished as the player of the tournament.
Rodri pipped Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr to claim the highest individual honor in world football – organized by France Football – after having played a pivotal role in Manchester City’s English Premier League title win as well as Spain’s European Championship triumph this summer. Since the award’s inception in 1956, it marked the first occasion of a Manchester City player winning the award.
“All Manchester City, our fans, we are so proud of him. We could never have imagined this years ago, that one [City] player could receive this prestigious award. We are so delighted to share it with him and hopefully, it can give him energy to recover well for next season and be with us again,” Guardiola said.
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