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How Manchester City players reacted to Rodri winning the 2024 Ballon d’Or award
Pep Guardiola’s first-team stars have issued messages of congratulations to Manchester City’s first-ever Ballon d’Or winner following Rodri’s success on Monday night.
The Spain international, who won a Treble of collective silverware with both club and country across the course of last season, defeated intense competition from a number of Real Madrid’s stars to become the first defensive midfielder to win the Ballon d’Or since 1990.
Such was the anger from within the Madrid camp that a delegation in the region of 50 persons cancelled their attendance at the ceremony in the French capital late on Sunday evening, leaving Manchester City and the rest of the football community to congratulate Rodri.
The success for the 28-year-old also comes after a maintained top-level of performance over the last two seasons in particular, recognised at both the FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA European Championships by winning Player of the Tournament awards.
As Rodri returns home to celebrate his historic triumph for both Manchester City and Spain, a number of stars from the Etihad Stadium club have issued messages of congratulations to the 28-year-old on their social media channels.
Among the first to issue their congratulations was Manchester City’s legendary former captain and current midfield metronome Ilkay Gundogan, who said, “From today on he is finally not ‘underrated’ anymore.
“Congratulations to my teammate Rodri on wining the Ballon d’Or! For me this is very well deserved! I’m especially happy that someone on a defensive position is winning this title and not always just the offensive players!”
Gundogan continued, “Rodri is the perfect midfielder and there’s no one that plays his position better than he does – there are so many clubs in Europe that are looking for a world class holding midfielder, but in the end there’s only him! What a development in recent years!”
Among other names from the Manchester City camp to issue their congratulations to the Spaniard was Oscar Bobb, who wrote on his social media channel, “The best”, whilst Phil Foden said, “Congrats my guy!! Well deserved.”
Ruben Dias, who was one of two other Manchester City stars in attendance at the Ballon d’Or ceremony alongside Rodri, said on social media, “Very special moment for you, Manchester City and for the world of football.”
The large majority of the Manchester City squad were also swift to share imagery celebrating Rodri’s success in Paris on their respective social media channels, with some accompanying the share with emojis applauding and sending love to the midfielder.
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