Rodri Hernandez responds to Cristiano Ronaldo Ballon d’Or comments and hits Real Madrid where it hurts | OneFootball

There have been no shortage of people ready to tell Rodri Hernandez that he did not in fact deserve the Ballon d’Or, and that Vinicius Junior did  – particularly in Madrid. In the past week, Cristiano Ronaldo added himself to that list, but Rodri has explained the hole in their arguments.

The Portuguese was present at the Globe Soccer Awards last week, and said that he would have awarded it to Vinicius, while Real Madrid neglected to attend the ceremony too, after finding out the Manchester City midfielder was likely to win. In an interview with Diario AS, Rodri pointed out that Ronaldo’s view was hypocritical, as was Real Madrid President Florentino Perez’s suggestion that the journalists from some countries shouldn’t be allowed to vote.

“Well, [it’s] a surprise, really, because he knows better than anyone how this award works and, above all, how the winner is chosen. This year the journalists who vote have considered that I should win it. Probably, these same journalists were the ones who at some point voted for him to win, and I imagine that then he would agree [with the voting system].”

Rodri went on to say that he expects to be back from his cruciate ligament injury before the end of the season. While he was not keen to put a date on it, he did note that he was keen to be back before the Club World Cup in the USA next year. Spain could also be involved in the Nations League final four if they win their quarter-final against the Netherlands in March.