Vinicius Junior, Aitana Bonmati win FIFA player of the year awards

Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior finally got his hands on a big global player award on Tuesday.

Vinicius was named the men's player of the year at the FIFA's "The Best" awards, where Barcelona playmaker Aitana Bonmati continued to clean up in the prizes for women's soccer.

The 24-year-old Vinicius was so disappointed to lose out to Manchester City midfielder Rodri for the Ballon d'Or in October that he and his Madrid team snubbed the ceremony in Paris in protest.

This time Rodri ended up second to Vinicius by five points. The Brazil forward was at the FIFA ceremony to collect his award having travelled to Doha on Monday with Madrid for the Intercontinental Cup final against Pachuca.

"I don't even know where to begin," Vinicius said in Portuguese. "It was so far away that it seemed impossible to get here. I was a kid who only played football barefoot on the streets of São Gonçalo, close to poverty and crime.

"Getting here is something very important to me. I'm doing it for many children who think that everything is impossible and who think they can't get here."

Vinicius echoed those sentiments in an Instagram post, where he took a thinly-disguised dig at presumably the Ballon d'Or voters — journalists from the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings.

"Today I am writing to that boy who saw so many idols lift this trophy... your time has come," he wrote. "Or rather, my time has come. The time to say ... yes, I am the best player in the world and I fought hard for it.

"They tried and still try to invalidate me, to diminish me. But they are not prepared. No one is going to tell me who I should fight for, how I should behave."

Vinicius has been subjected to racist abuse in Spain and at one point earlier this year said he was