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Winner’s name ‘not leaked’ in Ballon d’Or drama

The chief editor of France Football, Vincent Garcia, has explained that Manchester City’s Rodri’s Ballon d’Or win was not known before the event and that Real Madrid did not know the winner’s name before deciding to boycott the ceremony.

The sports magazine organises the annual Ballon d’Or awards.

Real Madrid’s dribbling wizard, Vinicius Junior, was widely regarded as the favourite to win the most prestigious individual prize in football.

Hours before the event in Paris, reports emerged that the Brazilian star was not winning the prize and, in protest, the angry Los Blancos delegation would not be travelling for the awards.

The Spanish giants’ week went from bad to worse on Saturday when they were defeated 4-0 at home by rivals Barcelona.

Explaining the drama, Garcia assured football fans that the winner’s name was not leaked to the clubs and that his silence may have made Real Madrid believe the Brazilian was missing out.

“I can guarantee that no one from [Manchester] City or Real Madrid knew; maybe they had a feeling. Maybe El Clásico [the name given to any match between Barcelona and Real Madrid] didn’t help. I don’t know,” Garcia said, according to Goal.com.

“Real Madrid put pressure on me to know if Vini won, and maybe my silence made them think Viní lost, so they didn’t show up. I’m unpleasantly surprised, but I don’t wanna spend the night talking about it; I want to talk about our winner, Rodri.

“All favourite clubs insisted on having the information of who won, [but] they didn’t know; we made it very clear – this year, the winner will not be notified before [the prizegiving ceremony].”

Pictured above: Vinicius Junior.

Source: @vinijr