Rodri reveals when he found out he won the Ballon d'Or as Man City star thought Real Madrid boycott was 'fake news'

Manchester City star Rodri became the first midfielder since Luka Modric to bag the prestigious Ballon d'Or when he was honoured this year in Paris. He played a crucial role in City winning the Premier League for a fourth consecutive season and was also an integral part of the Spain national team that won their fourth European Championship in Germany in the summer.

Rodri's selection for the award over Real Madrid and Brazil star Vinicius Junior has sparked debate in world football. Los Blancos even boycotted the ceremony in the French capital at the last moment after they found out that their winger would not win the prize. The Cityzens star he claimed that he did not believe at first that the Spanish champions had actually taken such a drastic step.

When asked if he knew beforehand of his win, Rodri said, per L'Equipe, "No, not at all. I was actually surprised that everyone asked me that. No one had ever told me anything before the ceremony. I knew for a long time that this would be the norm this year. And it worked because, until the end, the winner didn’t know. In my opinion, this decision to not reveal anything until the final verdict is an excellent thing.

"To be precise, at midday, when we were getting ready to board the plane, we received several messages from friends telling us that Real Madrid would not be coming. My first reaction was: I don’t believe it, it’s fake news."

He added, "When I landed in Paris, I received even more messages congratulating me. That’s when I started to think: wow! I had flown just to take part in the ceremony and I had landed in a virtually winning position. It was too much of a rollercoaster just because of the flight from Madrid to Paris, so I said: Let’s stop listening to all this, enjoy the evening and see what happens. But it was tough."

Rodri is unlikely to feature for the English champions again in the 2024-25 campaign after he picked up an ACL injury during a Premier League clash against Arsenal earlier in the season. City will be back in action after the international break on November 23 as they take on Tottenham Hotspur.