Tottenham forward Richarlison reacts to Vinicius Jr. not winning the Ballon d’Or

There was a lot of hullaballoo surrounding the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris on Monday, organised by the French magazine France Football in collaboration with UEFA.

Drama unfolded at the highest level in the race for men’s award for the best player as rumours of the result began circulating earlier on Monday. It came to the fore that Vinicius Junior as well as other members of the Real Madrid entourage would not be attending the event as a result of the Brazilian winger’s snub.

Vinicius Jr. was deemed by many as the favourite to win the prestigious award but it was Rodri who came on top at the event. While the Ballon d’Or has often been awarded to players with the most impressive stats from teams that have achieved the most collectively, Rodri’s importance for both Manchester City and Spain goes far beyond the ‘stats’.

Since it has been confirmed the Real Madrid star missed out, Vinicius Jr. has seen multiple players from around the world come out in support of him. One of those is his Brazil teammate and Tottenham Hotspur forward, Richarlison.

Taking to his official Instagram account, Richarlison launched an angry rant against the organizers of the Ballon d’Or event. After the results were declared, the Spurs man went on to release a full statement on his Instagram account.

Rodri’s stiffest competition for the Ballon d’Or came from Vinicius, who finished second. Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham ended up third in the voting. The awards are based on voting by a panel of journalists from the top 100 FIFA-ranked nations.

Clearly, there have been two schools of thought concerning who among Rodri or Vinicius should have won the 2024 Ballon d’Or award.

Vinicius supplied six goals and four assists in 10 Champions League games last season, on top of 20 goal involvements in 26 La Liga outings. The 24-year-old helped Los Blancos win both the La Liga and the Champions League. Rodri, meanwhile, played a key role in City’s Premier League, UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup triumphs, as well as lifting the EURO 2024 with Spain in July.

Richarlison came in support of his compatriot Vinicius whilst slamming France Football magazine. The 27-year-old’s post on social media was quite passionate and emotional, something which says a lot about his personality even if he is a tough guy to come up against on the pitch.

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Meanwhile, Tottenham are set to host Manchester City in the Carabao Cup fourth round on Wednesday evening. After the 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace at the weekend, Ange Postecoglou will be desperate to see a rousing response from his boys against City.