Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said Spain midfielder Rodri deservedly won the Ballon d’Or, refusing to criticise Real Madrid for appearing to snub Monday’s awards ceremony, saying it was up to them to decide.
“The whole team and the fans are proud of him,” Guardiola said a day before Wednesday’s League Cup fourth-round clash with Tottenham Hotspur.
“We would not have imagined this would happen in previous years, that a City player would win this prestigious award,” he added.
Rodri , 28, who led Manchester City to a fourth successive Premier League title last season and Spain to the European Championship , won the Ballon d’Or race ahead of Real Madrid duo Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham.
Asked about Real Madrid’s cancellation of their trip to the ceremony in Paris in case Vinicius Junior did not win the award, Guardiola shrugged and said: “It’s up to them.”
He continued: “If they want to congratulate (Rodri), that’s fine, and if they don’t want to do that, that’s fine too.
He explained: “We at Manchester City are not here to judge the actions of other clubs.”
The Spanish coach pointed out that the team’s Norwegian striker, Erling Haaland, attended the ceremony last year as one of the candidates to win it after scoring “more than 50 goals and winning the treble,” only to lose the Golden Ball in the end to Argentine Lionel Messi .
“I told Haaland that just being there should make him happy, and I said the same to Rodri,” he added.
He highlighted: “(The award) is decided by the votes of journalists. It’s not a group of elite who vote, it’s people from all over the world who vote, not one country. There are different points of view, and that’s what makes football great, isn’t it?”
Guardiola said Vinicius Junior also deserved to win and congratulated Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti on winning the Best Coach award.
“This event should be fun, and people should accept the results,” he added
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