Manchester City midfielder Rodri has fired back at Cristiano Ronaldo over labelling his Ballon d’Or win 'unfair'.
The Spaniard won football’s most prestigious individual prize in Paris back in October and in doing so became the first player from the Premier League to achieve the feat since Ronaldo in 2008.
Though the event wasn’t without controversy as Real Madrid boycotted the entire ceremony due to Vinicius Junior missing out on the award.
Now, the former Manchester United and Los Blancos forward, who is a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, has weighed in on the argument by explaining why the Brazilian should have been crowned instead.
“In my opinion, he (Vinicius) deserved to win the golden ball [Ballon d'Or award]. It was unfair in my opinion. I say [it] here in front of everybody,” he said at the Dubai Globe Soccer Awards.
“They gave it to Rodri, he deserved it too, but they should have given it to Vinicius because he won the Champions League and scored in the final.”
Addressing the comments in an interview with Spanish publication AS, Rodri expressed surprise at Ronaldo for questioning his win whilst also aiming a dig at the Al Nassr superstar.
"Well, it was a surprise, really, because he knows better than anyone how this award works and, above all, how the winner is chosen,” he said. “This year, the journalists who vote have decided that I should win it.
“Probably, these same journalists were the ones who at some point voted for him to win it, and I imagine that then he would have agreed.”
Interestingly, Ronaldo has been tipped to become Rodri’s teammate at Man City as Pep Guardiola is looking for reinforcements after seeing his side’s hopes of retaining the Premier League title hopes all but end before the turn of the year thanks to a staggering loss in form.
When asked at the Globe Soccer Awards last week if he would give City a "helping hand", the 39-year-old refused to rule out a sensational move to the Etihad Stadium.
"You never know what is going to happen," he said before laughing and refusing to elaborate further.
