With Real Madrid sulking and boycotting the Ballon d’Or ceremony, Vinicius Jr and his supporters convinced of having been victims of an odious plot, it is in this context that Manchester City’s Spanish international Rodri took over from Lionel Messi barely two weeks ago on the stage of the Théâtre du Châtelet.
Friday, the first voting elements fell and testify to the narrow victory of the Iberian European champion to the detriment of his Auriverde counterpart. In total points distributed by voting journalists, only 41 units separate the two players. A tiny difference.
Rodri 49 times cited in first position
Rodri collected 1170 votes, Vinicius Jr 1129, the latter, certainly winner of the Champions League with Real, having certainly suffered from the merengue density in a race for the Ballon d’Or which also saluted Jude Bellingham ( third with 917 points), Dani Carvajal (fourth with 550 points) or, to a lesser extent, Kylian Mbappé (sixth with 420 points) and Toni Kroos (ninth with 291 points).
That being said, Rodri was able to make the difference more clearly on one specific point: the number of first places won. No less than 49 out of 99 possible. Against 35 for Vinicius Jr. All the more decisive since this year pole position brought in 15 units. In Carlo Ancelotti’s eyes, however, the Brazilian has the makings of a number one. Witness his message this Saturday again on social networks for the one who scored a hat-trick in La Liga against Osasuna (4-0).
The 2024 Ballon d’Or rankings
1. Rodri (Spain, Manchester City), 1170 points.
2. Vinicius Jr. (Brazil, Real Madrid), 1129 pts.
3. Jude Bellingham (England, Real Madrid), 917 pts.
4. Dani Carvajal (Spain, Real Madrid), 550 pts.
5. Erling Haaland (Norway, Manchester City), 432 pts.
6. Kylian Mbappé (France, Paris-SG), 420 pts.
7. Lautaro Martinez (Argentina, Inter Milan), 402 pts.
8. Lamine Yamal (Spain, FC Barcelona), 383 pts.
9. Toni Kroos (Germany, Real Madrid), 291 pts.
10. Harry Kane (England, Bayern Munich), 201 pts.
11. Phil Foden (England, Manchester City), 157 pts.
12. Florian Wirtz (Germany, Leverkusen), 101 pts.
13. Dani Olmo (Spain, RB Leipzig), 86 pts.
14. Ademola Lookman (Nigeria, Atalanta Bergamo), 82pts.
15. Nico Williams (Spain, Athletic Bilbao), 73 pts.
16. Granit Xhaka (Switzerland, Leverkusen), 60 pts.
17. Federico Valverde (Uruguay, Real Madrid), 58 pts.
18. Emiliano Martinez (Argentina, Aston Villa), 28 pts.
19. Martin Ödegaard (Norway, Arsenal), 16 pts.
20. Hakan Çalhanoglu (Türkiye, Inter Milan), 15 pts.
21. Bukayo Saka (England, Arsenal), 14 pts.
22. Antonio Rüdiger (Germany, Real Madrid), 13 pts.
23. Ruben Dias (Portugal, Manchester City), 8 pts.
24. William Saliba (France, Arsenal), 8 pts.
25. Cole Palmer (England, Manchester City, Chelsea), 7 pts.
26. Declan Rice (England, Arsenal), 5 pts.
27. Vitinha (Portugal, Paris-SG), 5 pts.
28. Alejandro Grimaldo (Spain, Leverkusen), 2 pts.
29. Artem Dovbyk (Ukraine, SK-Dnipro 1, Girona), 0 pt.
– . Mats Hummels (Germany, Dortmund), 0 pt.
