FC Barcelona continue their tradition of having a special connection with the Ballon d’Or ceremony every passing year. Even with Lionel Messi no longer at the club, a considerable loss given the fact that he is an eight-time winner of the award itself, La Blaugrana maintain their prestige. Even in the latest edition, Barcelona were once again noteworthy.
While the women’s team took away the majority of the awards that Barcelona would win in this recent ceremony, including the women’s Ballon d’Or for the deserving Aitana Bonmati and also the award for best women’s team of the year, even the men’s team had a rather special winner this time around.
Lamine Yamal, a hero for both Barcelona and Spain by now, ended up winning the Kopa Trophy. On the other hand, Spanish midfielder Rodri also took away the men’s Ballon d’Or award for this year as well. Now, after the ceremony, another former winner of the Kopa Trophy has come forward and congratulated the both of them.
As highlighted by MARCA, Barça Golden Boy Gavi was among the people who congratulated the duo on their respective wins in this 68th edition of France Football’s Ballon d’Or. For Yamal, he posted a picture of the 17-year-old winger with himself and Pedri holding the Kopa Trophy, along with the caption:
“More than deserved, brother.”
Similarly, for Rodri, he posted a picture of the Manchester City star as a gladiator with the Ballon d’Or in his hand, captioned:
“Congratulations, my friend, very well-deserved.”
Interestingly, Gavi made no mention of the controversy surrounding the Ballon d’Or ceremony or Vinicius Jr not being the one to win it. What perhaps makes it even more alarming is the fact that, as MARCA points out, the Real Madrid star was trying his best to rub it in the face of the Barcelona player that he would be winning it soon when both he and Gavi entered a sort of a tussle during El Clasico.
Unfortunately for Los Blancos and their Brazilian winger, the award ended up going to Rodri instead. As a result, the team from Madrid ended up boycotting the event as a whole in a turn of events that has caused a lot of controversy within the footballing world.