Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri was a deserving recipient of the Ballon d’Or, stated his proud membership supervisor Pep Guardiola, who selected to not criticize Real Madrid’s absence from Monday night time’s awards ceremony, stating the choice was theirs to make.
“All of Manchester City and our fans are incredibly proud of him,” Guardiola stated forward of Wednesday’s League Cup fourth-round match in opposition to Tottenham Hotspur.
“We could never have imagined years ago that a player from City would receive such a prestigious award.”
The 28-year-old Rodri, who guided City to a fourth consecutive Premier League title final season and helped Spain clinch victory at Euro 2024, triumphed over Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr. and Jude Bellingham for the honour.
Guardiola, requested for his ideas on Real canceling their journey to the Paris ceremony in anticipation of Vinicius Jr. not successful the award, shrugged and stated, “It’s as much as them.
“If they want to congratulate, that’s fine. If not, that’s fine,” Guardiola added. “We at Manchester City are not here to judge what the other clubs do.”
The Spaniard identified that City’s Norway striker Erling Haaland attended the ceremony as a finalist final yr after scoring greater than 50 objectives and successful the treble, finally shedding out on the Ballon d’Or to Lionel Messi.
“I said to him that just being there (among the finalists), he should be so, so happy, and I said the same to Rodri. Last season, Erling should win, yes,” Guardiola stated.
“It’s voted by journalists. It’s not an elite group of people who vote. It’s people all around the world who vote, not just one country. There are different opinions, and that’s what makes football nice, no?”
Guardiola stated Vinicius Jr. would even have been a deserving winner and congratulated Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti for capturing the award for finest supervisor.
“This event has to be a joy; people have to accept the results,” he stated.
Guardiola stated he had no subject with Haaland skipping Monday’s gala occasion to journey to Sweden as an alternative and cheer on his pal Erik Botheim, who gained the Allsvenskan league title with Malmö FF on Monday.
“(Haaland) and his girlfriend, Isabelle, will be parents soon; we only get a couple of days off,” the Spaniard stated.
“He went to the ceremony last season. Sometimes you go, sometimes you don’t. He’s free to do what he wants. He will be really happy for Rodri; I have no doubt of that.”
City, who’ve a one-point lead over Liverpool atop the Premier League desk, face one of many hardest attracts in Wednesday’s fourth-round tie at Spurs.
City beat Tottenham 2-0 away of their final league match in May, because of a pair of Haaland objectives in a vital sport on their approach to successful the title once more.
Source: www.dailysabah.com