Real drama as Spain reigns supreme

PARIS — Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri was awarded the men's Ballon d'Or on Monday after winning a fourth consecutive Premier League title and Euro 2024, at a ceremony boycotted by Real Madrid.

The decision to award the prize for the world's best player to the midfielder came as a surprise, with Real's La Liga and Champions League double winner Vinicius Junior widely seen as the favorite.

Hours before the ceremony in Paris, the Spanish club announced that its delegation would not be in attendance at the Theatre du Chatelet because of what it perceived as a snub of Vinicius.

Rodri, 28, played a key role as City held off Arsenal to win the Premier League title last season and was later named player of the tournament at Euro 2024, as unfancied Spain emerged triumphant in Germany.

Rodri was diplomatic when addressing the question of Real's no-show in his post-award news conference.

"They have their decision, they didn't want to be here for their reasons," he said. "I just focus on my club and my teammates."

Despite the French organizers insisting that the identity of the winner was a closely-guarded secret this year, the news appeared to have leaked ahead of the festivities.

Earlier, Barcelona and Spain star Aitana Bonmati won her second successive women's Ballon d'Or, after leading her club to a historic continental quadruple of titles and claiming the Nations League with her country.

Madrid no-show

The drama in the men's award, however, started hours before the ceremony, as Spanish and European champion Real said if Vinicius was not the winner, then the award should go to his teammate Dani Carvajal.

Like the Brazilian, Carvajal scored in the 2-0 victory against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final at Wembley.

Vinicius scored 24 goals and made 11 assists in 39 matches across all competitions for Madrid, as he led the club to three titles last season.

"If the award criteria don't give it to Vinicius as the winner, then those same criteria should point to Carvajal as the winner," Real Madrid said in a statement.

"As this was not the case, it is clear that Ballon d'Or does not respect Real Madrid. And Real Madrid does not go where it is not respected."

The Madrid contingent of nominees also included Kylian Mbappe, Antonio Rudiger, Federico Valverde and Jude Bellingham.

The winner of the Ballon d'Or is chosen from the shortlist by an international jury of 100 specialist journalists.

The organizers, the Amaury group which owns the L'Equipe sports daily and France Football magazine, denied that the name of the successor to last year's men's winner Lionel Messi had leaked, and insisted that "no player or club" knew in advance who had won.

When Real was named as the men's team of the year, a video played on the stage in the absence of any club representatives.