Real Madrid superstar Vinicius Jr is one of the best players in the world, and probably the best alongside teammate Kylian Mbappe. You could argue that over the last year, he was the best player in the world by far. It was blatantly obvious to many, many people that Vinicius Jr should have won the Ballon d'Or and not Rodri.
Rodri is a great player, but it can be argued that it was not even his best year. He was much better in 2023, and it would have made sense for him to win the award then, but this win did not make much sense.
That is partly because of how good Vinicius Jr was. He did not have the numbers that many people associate Ballon d'Or winners with, and that is because of the fact that he is not Messi or Ronaldo. He did have a brilliant season though and he showed up when it mattered most.
That is what NBA superstar and Dallas Mavericks point guard Kyrie Irving believes as well. A brilliant player in his prime but is currently recovering from an ACL injury, Irving talked about his appreciation for Vinicius Jr, and how he should have won the golden ball.
Kyrie Irving said Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr should have won the Ballon d'Or in 2024
While showing his viewers a Vinicius Jr jersey, Irving said: "Look at my Vini jersey y’all, it is signed too. Tell Vini I need him on my stream. He should have won the Ballon d'Or, everyone knows that."
That is true. Most people are of that opinion, except for the ones who do not like Vinicius Jr and want to see him fail. There is a reason why he was in the conversation. There is a reason why he was getting Ballon d'Or shouts from his own teammate Jude Bellingham, who was also in the race for the award. He was also getting shouts from Cristiano Ronaldo and so many others.
Vinicius Jr deserved the award, and everyone has moved on from him not winning it - Vinicius Jr probably has his eyes set on the next one - but it is just nice to sit back and see superstars from other sports come to Vinicius Jr's support. It is nice to see it happen.