Rodri lands Ballon d’Or but ‘disrespected’ Real Madrid boycott awards ceremony

Manchester City midfielder Rodri won the men’s Ballon d’Or and Barcelona playmaker Aitana Bonmati took the women’s award as a ‘disrespected’ Real Madrid boycotted the prestigious ceremony in Paris despite being named men’s club of the year.

Rodri beat the Real Madrid trio of Vinicius Junior, Dani Carvajal and Jude Bellingham to the top honour, and that verdict from the 100-strong panel of voters led the delegation from the Spanish giants to stay at home.

As a result, there was nobody on hand to collect the men’s club of the year award, Carlo Ancelotti could not accept the men’s coach of the year award, and Kylian Mbappe was not there to take his share of the Gerd Muller trophy alongside Harry Kane.