“I chatted with Vini [Vinicius Junior], and he expressed sadness, which is also typical. El Chiringuito has heard Karim Benzema say, “He deserved to win the Ballon d’Or.”

“Rodri is a good player, and I have nothing against him, but while I’m sitting on my couch watching TV, he doesn’t do anything that makes you say, ‘Wow!”I believe it’s a really tough moment when everyone is expecting you to win the Ballon d’Or and you find out right at the end that it won’t happen. Vinicius is a decent man. The Frenchman continued, “He’ll try, and one day he’ll win his Ballon d’Or.”Before Rodri was named the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner, Benzema was one of the first players to openly promote Vinicius Junior.Despite early predictions that Vinicius Junior would win the 2024 Ballon d’Or, Rodri unexpectedly triumphed. Real Madrid reportedly boycotted the event because they were unhappy with the result.