Veteran Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti stirred up a lot of controversy with comments he made ahead of Real Madrid’s match against Manchester City today, Tuesday, in the first leg of the knockout round of the UEFA Champions League.
Tonight’s match is set to take place at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, starting at 11 pm Mecca and Doha time (10 pm Cairo time), with the second leg being played next week at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
Today’s match is the first meeting between Real Madrid and Manchester City since Rodri, a Manchester City player, won the 2024 Ballon d’Or, beating Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior to the award.
In protest of Vinicius not winning the individual title, Real Madrid decided not to attend the Golden Ball ceremony, which upset Manchester City leaders and their player Rodri.
Ancelotti: Rodri deserved the 2023 Ballon d’Or
When asked about Real Madrid’s decision not to attend the Ballon d’Or ceremony, Ancelotti responded in his pre-match press conference: “I don’t think it was a bad decision. We didn’t want to attend because we believed Vinicius deserved to win.”
The Italian coach continued, saying: “This doesn’t mean we don’t respect Rodri. He is an excellent player, and we believe he deserved to win the award in 2023.”
Lionel Messi won the 2023 Ballon d’Or after leading Argentina to victory in the World Cup in Qatar in December 2022. This meant that Ancelotti indirectly involved Messi in the discussion surrounding Rodri and Vinicius.
It’s worth noting that Manchester City’s manager Pep Guardiola was also asked about Real Madrid’s decision not to attend the Ballon d’Or ceremony during his pre-match press conference. However, Guardiola gave a more diplomatic response than Ancelotti (65 years old). He said: “There are no hard feelings about it.”
Guardiola added: “Vinicius had an amazing season too (like Rodri), and maybe he deserved to win the award, just like in the past when Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were competing for it. But that’s over now.”
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach explained that he had no reaction to Real Madrid’s decision, saying: “I was happy for Rodri.”
