Did Ballon d’Or take a dig at Vinicius? Fans left fuming over ‘shameless’ post

Despite their protest, Real Madrid took the club honours at the 2024 Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris on Monday. Madrid, who won La Liga and the Champions League last season, were named the men’s team of the year, but there were no representatives from the club to take the award. Ballon d’Or official social media handle later tweeted on Madrid’s triumph, but fans reckoned that the organisers took a dig at club striker Vinicius Junior.
Although, the organisers, in a fresh move for the 2024 edition of the event, looked to keep the winner’s name secret until the end of the night, Real Madrid became aware the Vinicius, the bookmakers’ favourite to win the men’s award, had been snubbed, with Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri slated to win the Ballon d’Or.
Hence, the Madrid delegation, comprising eight nominees across all awards, who reportedly learned about Rodri’s win as the nominees were gathering for the glitzy ceremony at a Paris theatre, boycotted the event.
However, it seemed Ballon d’Or later took a dig at the Spanish giants as they cut Vinicius Jr’s image from the post on Real Madrid’s ‘Men’s team of the Year’ award. The post did not go down well with fans as they shamed the organisers.
The club told AFP that they were not happy with the method used by the organisers to pick the Ballon d’Or winner as they reckoned that their defender Dani Carvajal, who was also on the 30-player nomination list, was unfairly overlooked. They even accused France Football and UEFA of “disrespecting” the club.
“If the award criteria doesn’t give it to Vinicius as the winner, then those same criteria should point to Carvajal as the winner,” Real Madrid told AFP.
“As this was not the case, it is clear that Ballon d’Or-UEFA does not respect Real Madrid. And Real Madrid does not go where it is not respected.”