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Neymar has responded to comments made by Rodri following his Ballon d’Or win and supposed Vinicius Jr snub.
Manchester City midfielder Rodri was the winner of the Ballon d’Or this year. Vinicius Jr was widely tipped to win the award for the best football player in the world. After it had been leaked that he wouldn’t be the winner, Real Madrid took strike against the ceremony with no players nor their manager appearing.
Rodri was a key figure in Spain’s Euro 2024 victory during the summer. He also won the Premier League, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup with City. He did this all whilst continuing to be arguably Pep Guardiola’s most important player. Following his individual accolade, the Spanish player took some time to give Vinicius Jr some advice.
He told Cadena SER: “I think he’s an intelligent guy and he’ll realise over time that the more he pays attention to the pitch, the better he’ll be.
“Like everyone, he has areas for improvement both on and off the pitch, he’s young. I’m sure that people will give him good advice and even more so when he’s at Madrid. It’s a club with values.”
Manchester City midfielder Rodri won the Ballon d’Or for 2024 as Real Madrid boycotted the event
Although this looked like Rodri trying to give some helpful guidance to the 24-year-old winger, it wasn’t taken that way by everyone. It was Vinicius Jr’s Brazilian teammate Neymar who took to social media to hit back at the midfielder.
