Florentino Pérez 'slams' L'Equipe and UEFA for Vinicius' 'no' Ballon d'Or

At the Real Madrid Assembly of Members, Florentino Pérez, president of the club, brutally attacked L'Equipe and UEFA for the organisation of the Ballon d'Or. An award that, in his opinion, Vinicius Jr. deserved.

"The Ballon d'Or should have been for a Real Madrid player. Whatever criteria is applied. L'Equipe did a survey and gave the award to Vinicius. Or Carvajal, who also won the Euro Cup"

The top Madrid official continued his defence by assuring that "it is surprising that in the UEFA statement, it states that his entry into the organisation would not affect the criteria. They changed the voting system, the points for journalists... And it is surprising that, with football being something so global, journalists from countries with such a large population like India do not vote... and others with less than a million, yes. And nobody knows them! Without Namibia, Uganda, Albania and Finland, Vinicius would have won the Ballon d'Or."

"In Finland they didn't give him a single point, not even in the top ten... At least their journalist has resigned and admits his mistake," he continued.

Did Rodri deserve the Ballon d'Or?

For Florentino, Rodri did not deserve the award this season. "For the first time in history, it was organised by UEFA with France Football and L'Equipe. I want to make it clear that Rodrigo is a great footballer. From Madrid and... a Madrid native. Let him know that this has nothing to do with him. I'm going to read the editorial from Tuttosport: 'Rodrigo deserves a Ballon d'Or, but not this one'," the president began reading.

"'Last year City won the treble and scored, but didn't even finish on the podium? This time, they wanted to make up for that.' I agree"

Finally, Pérez finished his speech with a poisoned 'dart' to the organisers of the award. "You'd have to ask the organisation what the criteria are, but it's clear that they can do whatever they want without any cost. I would ask France Football and L'Équipe if it makes much sense to join forces with UEFA right now. The Ballon d'Or should be an independent trophy and voted for by renowned people," he concluded.