Real Madrid superstar Vinicius Junior has been the target of much criticism when travelling to Spain to attend matches for refusing to win the Ballon d’Or. But the Brazilian has confirmed that it was an order from above. None of Real Madrid’s nominees or any members of the club attended the gala evening organised by France Football after the announcement of Manchester City’s Rodri Hernandez’s nomination.

Vinicius wrote shortly after the award that he would do “10 times better if he had to”, but denied feeling cheated by the result. After winning The Best award, he also  publicly stated that he felt he was the best in the world  .

“No, people vote for what they believe. I have my own ideas. I never dreamed of winning the Ballon d’Or, when you are close, you believe in it, but I will have other opportunities. I have already won two European Cups and I am here to win many more.”

Regularly confronted with chants of “Vinicius, beach ball” rather than “golden ball”, he confirmed that it was president Florentino Perez who made the decision not to attend the awards ceremony. A decision that has drawn widespread criticism from Real Madrid and Vinicius.



“I do what the club tells me to do and the club asked me to stay in Madrid,” he stressed.

The Brazilian was also asked what frustrates him most on the football pitch, and he pointed the finger at the referees.

“When the referees don’t show cards to others and when I protest for the first time and they show me a card, I do a lot of things that I shouldn’t do, but with every game I get better and I’m calmer. Little by little, I’m getting better. I’ve been here for a long time, but people forget that I’m 24 and I still have a lot to learn and I’m going to keep learning until the end of my career.”

It has been reported that not all members of the Real Madrid squad agree with the club’s policy of criticising referees  , but the star striker has been one of their most vocal players on the subject.

The referees had little to do with Los Blancos’ defeat to Real Betis this weekend, as they suffered their eighth defeat of the season. Real Madrid  appeared to have turned a corner, with an attacking line showing a renewed commitment to pressing, but that was lacking at the Benito Villamarin stadium.

“We always know that we have to defend better, otherwise we won’t win. The coach talks to the four forwards so that we work hard. When the most important part of the season comes, we play better and we have to do our best for this team.”

Vinicius was also asked what manager Carlo Ancelotti said to them after being beaten by Betis.
Image via JÉSUS ALVAREZ ORIHUELA / DiarioAS
“In the last game we lacked a bit of everything. We started very well, but after 20 minutes we made too many mistakes and everything was wrong. It’s better that it happened in this game because tomorrow we can’t make a mistake. If we make a mistake, we go home. We are here to improve and play a good game tomorrow.”