
Former Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has accepted that Vinicius Junior was affected by missing out on the 2024 Ballon d’Or, but hailed the Brazilian’s character while predicting bigger and better things for the forward.
The penetrative force at the tip of a Real Madrid attack which won La Liga and the Champions League in 2024 was the nailed-on favorite to lift that year’s Ballon d’Or. After Vinicius scored a hat-trick against Borussia Dortmund six days before the grand ceremony in Paris, the Santiago Bernabéu chanted: “Ballon d’Or, Vinicius Ballon d’Or.”