Ballon d’Or: Guardiola is “proud” of Rodri and responds to Real Madrid
Man. City boss recalled that Xavi and Iniesta also deserved it and didn’t win because there was… Messi
Pep Guardiola congratulated Rodri on Tuesday for winning the Ballon d’Or, considering this “incredible news for him and for all of us”.
“We at Manchester City are very proud of him. We are very proud to share this with him and we hope it can give him the energy to recover well for next season,” the manager said at a press conference.
Asked about Real Madrid ‘s absence from the ceremony, in protest against the award not being given to Vinícius Jr., Guardiola replied: «That’s up to them. If they want to congratulate me, fine. If they don’t, fine. Last season, Erling won the treble, he scored more than 50 goals. I told him that, just for being there, he should be very, very happy and I said the same to Rodri. Last season, Erling should have won, yes. Should Messi have won? Yes. It doesn’t matter.»
“Should it have been Vinicius ? Maybe. It’s not an elite group, it’s the journalists who vote. Rodri gave an incredible speech, he spoke about his family and Spanish football. In the last decade, Spanish football has made a difference, it won a World Cup, European Championships, and it didn’t manage to win this award. Its importance in the last 10 or 15 years has been huge. I remember one time they nominated three players from La Masia and Xavi and Iniesta couldn’t beat Messi, he was a monster. Only Ronaldo could do it,” he added.
