The Spaniard picked up his first Ballon d’Or on Monday, with Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior in second and his team-mate Jude Bellingham in third.
It had been widely expected in the days before the ceremony that Vinicius would win – with Spanish newspaper Marca even leading with that as fact in their Monday morning edition.
But reports surfaced later in the day that it was in fact Rodri who had received more votes after another stellar season with City and then helping Spain to win Euro 2024.
The reaction from Real Madrid wasn’t exactly a congratulatory one, as they accused the Ballon d’Or organisers of ‘disrespecting’ the club by not giving the award to Vinicius or team-mate Dani Carvajal.
That reaction seemed to get more publicity than the winner himself, but with Rodri not having any form of social media, that is perhaps the way he would have wanted it.
But there were a large number of players and media that praised the Spaniard’s win – and Lionel Messi sent a text to the midfielder, who is out with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury suffered last month.
Messi texted Rodri to congratulate him on his success shortly after the midfielder had namedropped him in his acceptance speech.
Both players faced off against each other when they were at Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, as well as internationally with Spain and Argentina.
Rodri praised Messi during his speech, saying that he was his ‘role model’ and that he ‘dominated this award for a long time’.
Speaking after his success, Rodri thanked his family, his girlfriend Laura, and his team-mates at both City and Spain.
When I was 17, I packed my suitcase to fulfil a dream. One day I cried to my father, it’s all over, I invested my life to get here and that was it.
