by Rodri directed a brutal taunt at Vinicius Jr in a since-deleted video during his Ballon d’Or celebrations.
Rodri won the 2024 Ballon d’Or on Monday, beating Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr., Jude Bellingham and Dani Carvajal.
The Manchester City man defied the odds to win the prestigious individual award, upsetting the Spanish giants who expected the Brazil international to win the award.
The club boycotted the event in a show of solidarity with their superstar winger after hearing the verdict.
Rodri, on the other hand, was present to receive the Ballon d’Or as he became the first winner of the award for Man City.
During his acceptance speech he appeared to make fun of Real, which didn’t go unnoticed by fans.
And during a post-ceremony dinner, the midfielder further addressed Vinicius Jr., singing: “Vini ciao, Vini ciao, ciao, ciao!”
Man City uploaded the video to social media but immediately removed the post.
Vinicius Jr. misses out on this year’s Ballon d’Or despite scoring an impressive 24 goals in all competitions last season.
Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola congratulated his star player and said he was proud of the Euro 2024 winner.
“First of all, congratulations to him and all his family and friends,” he said.
“This is incredible news for him and of course for all of us, everyone at City and our fans. We are so proud of him. It’s the first time.”
“We could never have imagined years ago that a player would receive this prestigious award. We’re really excited to be a part of it and share it with him and yeah, hopefully it can give him the energy to recover well for next season and be with us again.
Rodri has been instrumental in Man City’s success since joining the club in the summer of 2019.
But unfortunately for Guardiola and fans alike, he will be unavailable for the Blues for the rest of the season after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament against Arsenal.
