Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr has not had the best of seasons. To be absolutely fair to him, he started off really well, but he massively dropped off towards the middle part of the season, right after he got snubbed for the Ballon d'Or at the end of October 2024.
It was clearly a gut punch to the Brazilian superstar, and it made things tough for him to get going after.
That was annoying as, that is the time when Real Madrid's other superstar, Kylian Mbappe, started really performing the way he was supposed to, and it became a game of who is going to perform out of the two.
Ronaldinho thinks Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr was the clear Ballon d'Or winner in 2024
Vinicius Jr really did deserve the Ballon d'Or, though, and I am not the only one who will say that. In fact, Real Madrid's arch rivals Barcelona have a legendary former player who has also backed Vinicius Jr.
Ronaldinho, in a recent interview, said that he thought Vinicius Jr deserved the Ballon d'Or.
He said: “It's unfair that Vini Jr. didn't win the Ballon d’Or.
“He has been dominating the most important competitions for years now, while scoring decisive goals in Champions League finals to win them. He deserved the Ballon d’Or.”
Ronaldinho is absolutely right. Vinicius Jr was instrumental for Real Madrid in the 2023-24 season, and was head and shoulders above anyone else in the Champions League.
Multiple brilliant performances - from beating Manchester City in a penalty shootout, to cooking Joshua Kimmich in the semi-finals, Vinicius Jr did everything.
Rodri, although had an amazing season, did not do enough in the Euro campaign to warrant a Ballon d'Or. He won the player of the tournament, but arguably was not even Spain's best player - he was just their most well-known player.
Rodri should have won it in 2023, but it was very obvious that 2024 was Vini's year, and Ronaldinho seems to agree.