Cristiano Ronaldo has insisted that this year's Ballon d'Or should have been given to Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior, while also giving his backing to struggling Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim.
The Portuguese superstar, speaking at Friday's night's Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai, weighed in on the call to honour Manchester City midfielder Rodri with the award rather than the Brazilian attacker who had helped guide Real Madrid to a record-extending 15th Champions League title.
Vinicius was named men's player of the year at the glitzy ceremony in Palm Jumeirah having notched 24 goals in 39 appearances across all competitions to help Real clinch the La Liga and Champions League double last season, and he also scored in their Champions League final win over Borussia Dortmund.
The 24-year-old was also named best men's player at the Fifa Awards earlier this month but missed out on the Ballon d'Or which was given to Rodri who played a key role in Spain securing the crown at Euro 2024 and Manchester City sealing a historic fourth Premier League title in a row.
The decision to give Rodri the award ahead of Vinicius – and his Los Blancos teammates Dani Carvajal and Jude Bellingham – was met with anger in Spain with Real refusing to send any representatives to October's ceremony in Paris saying the club had been disrespected.
This meant that coach of the year Carlo Ancelotti and Kylian Mbappe – joint winner of the Gerd Muller trophy alongside Harry Kane – were not there to accept their awards.
“If the award criteria doesn’t give it to Vinicius as the winner, then those same criteria should point to Carvajal as the winner,” the club said in a statement. “As this was not the case, it is clear that Ballon d’Or does not respect Real Madrid. Real Madrid does not go where it is not respected.”
And on Thursday, former Real attacker and five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo gave his verdict on the decision to hand Rodri the award.
“I really love the way they do their career, Bellingham, Lamine [Yamal] now, this young generation, Vinicius, they do a fantastic job,” the 39-year-old said in Dubai.
“In my opinion he [Vinicius] deserved to win the golden ball. It was unfair, I say it here in front of everybody. They gave it to Rodri, he deserved it too but I think they should have given it to Vinicius because he won a Champions League.”
The Al Nassr captain also gave his backing to countryman Amorim, who is finding life in the Premier League difficult since leaving Sporting Lisbon to take over at Manchester United – both former clubs of Ronaldo's.
Amorim took over from the sacked Erik ten Hag last month but has failed to improve their fortunes with United having lost five of his first 10 games in all competitions, leaving them 14th in the table and eight points above the relegation zone.
He admitted after the 2-0 loss at struggling Wolves at the weekend – United's third defeat in a row – that the club was in a “difficult moment” with tough games against Newcastle United, Liverpool and Arsenal away in the FA Cup coming up.
But Ronaldo, named the Middle East's best player at the Globe Soccer Awards, insists the problems at United cannot just be blamed on the manager.
“Amorim did a fantastic job in Portugal with my [club] Sporting,” said Ronaldo, whose second spell at United ended in November 2022 after a public falling out with Dutch manager Ten Hag. “But the Premier League is a different beast, the most competitive league in the world.”
“I knew that it would be tough and they will continue the storm. But the storm will finish and the sun will rise.
“I say this one year and half ago and I will continue to say, the problem is not the coaches. It’s like the aquarium and you have the fish inside and it’s sick, and you take him out and fix the problem. If you put it back in the aquarium it will be sick again.”
