'Maybe El Clasico didn’t help' - France Football's chief editor explains Vinicius Junior's Ballon d'Or defeat as he 'guarantees' Real Madrid did not know Rodri had won before ceremony

Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr was expected to win the 2024 Ballon d'Or but missed out to Manchester City midfielder Rodri. The Brazilian believes his fight against racism cost him the prestigious prize and has sent out a defiant response after finishing in second place. Real Madrid fans, as well as players past and present, have all hit out after seeing Rodri pip Vinicius Jr to the Ballon d'Or, while France Football have attempted to explain why the Brazilian was not crowned the best male player in the world.

Real Madrid were beaten 4-0 by Barcelona in El Clasico last time out, with Vinicius Jr taunting Gavi during the match by claiming "on Monday I'm going for the Ballon d'Or." However, the forward did not even fly to Paris for the ceremony after Real Madrid learned beforehand that Rodri would win. Garcia says that Real Madrid were eager to know the result but denied telling Los Blancos who had finished first before the ceremony took place.

Garcia said: "I can guarantee you that no one from City or Real Madrid knew, maybe they had a feeling. Maybe El Clásico didn’t help. I don’t know. It was close. Vinícius probably suffered from the presence of Jude Bellingham and Dani Carvajal in Top 5.

“Real Madrid put pressure on me to know if Vini won, and maybe my silence made them think Viní lost, so they didn't show up .I'm unpleasantly surprised, but I don't wanna spend the night talking about it, I want to talk about our winner, Rodri. All favorite clubs insisted on having the information of who won, they didn’t know, we made it very clear, this year, the winner will not be notified before.”

Vinicius will look to put aside his Ballon d'Or disappointment on the pitch on Saturday when Real Madrid take on Valencia in La Liga. Los Blancos then host AC Milan in the Champions League.