Ancelotti and the Ballon d’Or: “Rodrygo deserved to be there”

The Real Madrid coach also spoke about Vinicius Júnior

Carlo Ancelotti previewed the next La Liga game against Real Sociedad on Friday morning. Journalists questioned him a lot about Vinicius Júnior and also about Rodrygo, who expressed his displeasure on social media at being left out of the 30 nominees for the Ballon d’Or.

“The Ballon d’Or award was not valued. He [Rodrygo] deserved to be there and I understand that he is upset. Someone forgot what he did in the Champions League, scoring against City and being important. It is a virtue that he is a wild card , that he can play in many positions and is always good”, assessed the Italian.

And Ancelotti continued: «For him, it is a motivation to compare himself to Vinicius or Mbappé. For me, he is as important as them. He doesn’t tell me he has a problem. Envy? If it happens, I detect it. There is a very good and healthy atmosphere in the dressing room. There are players who will have more responsibility, like Vinicius, Rodrygo, the youngsters, who are not so young anymore», assessed Carlo Ancelotti.

The Italian coach also admits that Vinicius Júnior “is not at his best, but he is very decisive for us”. “We are not in a hurry”, guarantees the coach, who also addressed a question about Vinicius not being able to stand out in the Brazilian national team.

“The explanation I can find is that Brazil’s problem, which I don’t want to go into detail about, is a general problem. They are having difficulty finding their best version. It’s not a problem with Vinicius, it’s a general problem. We are very happy with him. He is not at his best, but we cannot forget that, thanks to Vinicius, we won two Champions Leagues. We have to have a lot of affection for him in Madrid,” he said.