Rodri’s margin of victory over Vinicius Jr in the 2024 Men’s Ballon d’Or award rankings has been revealed, MySportDab reports.
The Manchester City and Spain’s defensive midfielder controversially beat Vinicius Jr to clinch the coveted individual laurel.
Now, official results of Ballon d’Or voting results has shown the gap of victory for the player over Vinicius Jr.
He polled 1170 points against Vinicius Jr’s 1129. In the history of the award, that has been the tightest race for the most coveted Ballon d’Or award category.
Addressing a deluge of controversies and wrangles that engulfed the award after Vinicius Jr lost, the Chief Editor to France Football – the organizers of the Ballon d’Or – Vincent Garcia said Vinicius Jr lost narrowly due to the presence of three Real Madrid players in the top five of the rankings.
Other Real Madrid players who crashed into the top five in the Ballon d’Or rankings were Jude Bellingham and Dani Carvajal.
Jude Bellingham finished third behind Vinicius Jr and Rodri while Dani Carvajal, who is nursing a season-ending injury, was fourth.
Rodri, with just 41 points gap, became the first Premier League player since 2008 to win the award after Cristiano Ronaldo.
Real Madrid learnt a few hours to the award ceremony that Vinicius Jr is not the winner designate and this made the club to boycott the award.
They later issued a statement clarifying that the club have been ‘historically robbed’ and ‘disrespected’ due to Vinicius Jr’s snub.
Vinicius Jr had a stellar run for Real Madrid in the season, playing a crucial role as the team won the La Liga and UEFA Champions League in 2024.
However, he fell short on the international scene with Rodri winning the 2024 Euros with Spain national team as a standout player.
However, some analysts believed Vinicius Jr deserved the award more after accentuating brilliance with Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League.
