New Delhi: It’s finally time for what every football fan has been waiting for, as tonight, the most prestigious individual award in football, the winner of Ballon D’or 2024 will be revealed. We have some serious contenders to win the this season’s Ballon D’or, as some of the best European footballers will be competing to win this honoured individual award. The Ballon D’or was first introduced back in the year 1956, and over the years, we have witnessed some of the greats to ever step foot in a football field to win this prestigious award.
This year’s Ballon D’or has a lot of things missing as two of the regular nominees will be missing out on the list, two of the greatest, Cristiano Ronaldo, who has won the Ballon D’or on five different occassions, and Lionel Messi, who has a record eight Ballon D’or awards. This will be the first time that neither of the two will be joining the top 30 nominees list.
With Luka Modric and Karim Bnezema being the only ones to break that dominance by the two icons, this will be the beginning of a new era where new faces will take up the charge and fight for this award. This season, one of the main contenders to win the prestigious award is Manchester City’s Rodri,
An incredible 2023/24 season for Rodri
Rodri of Manchester City celebrates after scoring the team’s first goal during the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal first leg match between Manchester City and FC Bayern München (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Rodri had an incredible season and appears to be a strong candidate for this year’s Ballon Do’r. Since moving from Atletico Madrid to Manchester City, Rodri has been great; his development under Pep Guardiola has been incredible. He played a vital role in Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City system and is now without a doubt the best central defensive midfielder in the world.
As De la Fuente’s team won the UEFA Euro 2024 championship, the 28-year-old defensive midfielder once again played a crucial role down the midfield during his fantastic Euro 2024 campaign. For every squad he has played for, Rodri has turned out to be a vital member. The Spanish midfielder won his fourth Premier League title while playing a key role for Manchester City.
In addition to his impressive trophy haul this season, the incredible Spaniard has much more to offer on the field. Since many people believe Rodri is one of the primary contenders to win this year’s Ballon D’Or, his steady performances are not going ignored. Despite his current absence due to a season ending injury that he suffered a few weeks back in a match against Arsenal, his importance to this Manchester City squad is clearly evident as the Sky Blues haven’t quite had the strongest start to their campaign this time around.
Rodri can become only the second defensive midfielder to win the Ballon D’or
When was the last time that we witnessed a defensive midfielder winning the Ballon D’or? It is pretty clear that when we talk about the players who have won this individual award, the list would mostly involve attackers thanks to the number of goals that give them the edge over the players playing in different positions. On recent occassions, defensive midfielders such as Andrea Pirlo and Ngolo Kante have made the top 10 list, but until now, the only natural defensive midfielder who has managed to win the Ballon D’or is none other than Lothar Matthaus back in 1990.
In his 1990 Ballon d’Or article for France Football, journalist Jacques Thibert described Matthaus as a player who, despite not being sublime in anything individually, excelled in all facets of the game, enabling him to feel comfortable in any position on the field. However, the position that suited him the most was the deep lying role where he worked as a proper box to box midfielder, bossing his own territory, while also proving to be a major threat while going forward.
Rodri incredible Ballon d’Or run.!
⚽️ 12 goals
🎯 14 assists
🔑 100 key passes
💨 66 successful dribbles
👟 93% pass accuracy
🏆 EURO Champion
🏆 Premier League Champion
🏆 Super Cup Winner
🏆 Club World Cup Winner
⭐️ EURO Player of the Tournament
⭐️ Club World Cup Golden Ball… pic.twitter.com/sOWzqDh3w3— Troll Football (parody) (@Troll_Futballl) October 28, 2024
Matthaus was a standout performer for Inter and helped Germany win the 1990 World Cup. This led him to the 1990 Ballon D’or, making him the first ever defensive midfielder to win it. Rodri might just become the next defensive midfielder to do it after Matthaus, after his wonderful campaign with Manchester City as well as Spain.
The midfielder won it all since last season, winning some major titles for Manchester City, such as the 2023/24 Premier League, 2024 FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup, meanwhile also lifting the Euros 2024 with his Spanish side. Meanwhile talking about the individual awards, he won the Euors player of the tournament and also the Club World Cup Golden Ball
Besides, there is no doubt about the fact that the 28 year old was a crucial player for both Manchester City as well as for De la Fuente’s Spanish side, where he played a massive leadership role. Besides, his numbers and stats were just unreal, considering the fact that his natural position was playing as a deep lying midfielder.
