Real Madrid were right to boycott the Ballon d'Or ceremony over Rodri beating Vinicius Jr - it was the 'biggest scandal ever in football'

For starters, Madrid only found out on Sunday that Vinicius wouldn't be winning - a shocking show of disrespect, given the identity of the victor is usually shared/leaked weeks beforehand. Consequently, travel arrangements had already been made, parties previously planned. Spare a thought, too, for the sports brands that had already prepared a special Ballon d'Or-themed boot for Vinicius - so much time, money and effort wasted.

Some will argue that the Madrid contingent could have still attended the ceremony; that they looked pathetic and petty by failing to turn up - but why would they have subjected themselves to a public shaming? Remember, they only ended up winning Team of the Year and Coach of the Year (Carlo Ancelotti)... Furthermore, only four Madrid players finished in the top 10 of the Ballon d'Or vote, with Vinicius, Jude Bellingham and Dani Carvajal shockingly finishing just second, third and fourth, respectively.

As a club source told AS, "It is obvious that the Ballon d'Or and UEFA do not respect Real Madrid. And Real Madrid [does not go] where it is not respected."

Vinicius' team-mate Eduardo Camavinga decried the "football politics" at play in the Ballon d'Or vote, which is something that Madrid have always nobly refused to engage in, outside of trying to tear the very fabric of European football apart by forming a closed-off Super League for the continent's elite clubs... In reality, all they've ever done is invest a huge amount of time, money and effort into ensuring their candidate comes out on top.

"Florentino Perez orchestrates the campaigns well," former director of France Football, Pascal Ferre, once told the EFE Agency. "There are machines like Real Madrid that are very strong... They know how this works. It's no coincidence that it's the club with the most players to have won the Ballon d'Or (eight)."

How many more times would Madrid have taken home the trophy, though, were it not for the organisers' anti-Real agenda?...

Remember, it's usually hard to find any flaws in the Ballon d'Or voting process... The criteria are clear, meaning the results are nearly always consistent. The process only ever seems to fail when a Madrid player is in the running.

Granted, Los Blancos have had nine victors in the 21st century - Cristiano Ronaldo was a particularly worthy winner in 2013 - but no other club seems to suffer the same kind of injustice.

Indeed, if you forget about Thierry Henry, Robert Lewandowski, Franck Ribery, Wesley Sneijder, Deco and every single world-class defender and goalkeeper of the past two decades, only Madrid players have even been cruelly overlooked by Ballon d'Or voters... It just begs the question: why always them?!

Madrid are definitely entitled to feel that Vinicius was robbed. Other than actually turn up at the Copa America, what more could the Brazilian have done to convince the doubters?... At the end of the day, he was decisive for Madrid in the Champions League - the only competition in world football that really counts in the Ballon d'Or voting... Well, depending on the year.

The bottom line is that Rodri (unfortunately, it's probably time to mention the actual victor), who was part of the Manchester City side eliminated by Madrid in the quarter-finals of last season's Champions League, was not a credible candidate. He only scored nine times last season, for crying out loud! By complete contrast, Vinicius was directly involved in 33 goals in 2023-24 - only 15 players across Europe's 'Big Five' leagues managed more...

Of course, it must be acknowledged that Rodri is a defensive midfielder, a model of consistency in modern football and rarely ever on a losing side, but the Ballon d'Or just can't go to a player with such a pitiful goals tally - unless of course we're talking about Real Madrid's Luka Modric in 2018...

As well as lifting a historic fourth-consecutive Premier League title with City, Rodri did win a major international honour with his country, and he was named Player of the Tournament at Euro 2024, but the Spaniard was replaced at half-time in the final win over England. And you just can't be giving the Ballon d'Or to a player that was forced off injured in his most important game of the year - unless of course we're talking about Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo in 2016...

Real's rage is, therefore, entirely understandable. Just like their decision to boycott the Ballon d'Or ceremony.

It was, as one of the many level-headed Madrid fans wrote online, "the biggest scandal ever in football". Never before have we had to bear witness to such a disgusting injustice. It has shaken the foundations of the game to their very core.

Fede Valverde told Vinicius, "There's no award that acknowledges how good you are." It was a nice attempt to console a crestfallen colleague but, again, it misses the point. Some football fans are already doing the unthinkable by questioning the importance of such prizes - and the very nature of the society that we live in.

"It's in these idiotic awards that we realise that the world is a great injustice," another outraged supported said of the Ballon d'Or debacle.

These are certainly worrying times for France Football. Their voters probably thought they were doing the right thing for once by rewarding Rodri - who should have won last year - for his sustained excellence. But by snubbing star quality, they've undermined an award that's always looked out of place in a team sport.

After all, Kroos had already stopped caring about the Ballon d'Or. How long before everyone else now follows suit?...