Vinicius Jr. was left disappointed last month when he fell short in the race for the Ballon d’Or despite being the favourite for months.
The Brazilian, coming off a season where he was pivotal in Real Madrid’s run to the UEFA Champions League and La Liga titles, was rightfully in the driver’s seat until the very end.
On the day of the ceremony, however, word spread that it was Manchester City’s Rodri who had won the award, prompting Real Madrid to skip the event in its entirety.
A tight race
It was always clear that the race between Vinicius and Rodri would be hard-fought, especially given that the Spaniard has won Euro 2024 along with the Premier League.
However, no update till now provided any information on the margin that Rodri finally held over the Real Madrid star and L’Equipe now shed light on the untouched topic.
As relayed by the French outlet, only 41 points separated the Spanish star from Vinicius and the race was even tighter than initially anticipated.
Rodri finished on 1170 points in the Ballon d’Or race while Vinicius has 1129 points to his name. Needless to say, the theory that the Real Madrid star split points with his teammates Daniel Carvajal and Jude Bellingham may well be the truth.
After all, the report furthers that five journalists who voted in the Ballon d’Or placed Bellingham in first place, while four placed Carvajal at numero uno and two for Toni Kroos. Had those votes gone Vinicius’ way, the script may have been different.
Further, the journalist from Syria never cast his vote in the event, once again creating a missed opportunity in theory for Real Madrid.
Real Madrid and Vinicius, however, must now look to let the bygones be bygones and focus on the path ahead as Los Blancos have endured a torrid few weeks and are in dire need of a restart. The Brazilian, needless to say, will be pivotal.