Carlo Ancelotti is adamant Real Madrid were right to boycott the Ballon d’Or in protest at Manchester City’s Rodri winning it ahead of Vinicius Jr.
Real chose en masse to snub the Paris ceremony in October because they felt their Brazilian winger Vinicius would have been a more worthy winner.
Ahead of tonight’s first leg of their Champions League play-off tie, Ancelotti doubled down on the controversial decision – claiming Rodri should have won the award in 2023 when City scooped the Treble.
“I don’t think it was the wrong decision,” said Ancelotti. “We thought that Vini was the winner of the Ballon d’Or last year. It doesn’t mean we don’t respect Rodri, because he’s a fantastic player, but we thought that Rodri deserved to win it the year before.”
Ancelotti said the new-found rivalry between City and Real had turned their encounters into a modern-day ‘Clasico’ between two of Europe’s elite sides. The Real boss also branded Pep Guardiola a “nightmare” to come up against – even accounting for City’s poor form this season.
“It seems like it’s a ‘Clasico’, because we’ve played each other a lot of times recently in this competition,” said Ancelotti. “It will be a difficult game, hard to predict.
“It will defend a lot on the attitude, confidence and personality of the teams. It’s such a high level game, you have to be your very best in every aspect.
“Pep has always tried to play well and brought a great deal to football in terms of his attacking play and bringing the ball out from the back.
“He’s been an innovator and I continue to believe in him. I still think City have the best manager left in the competition, whether they are in form or not.
“It’s a nightmare preparing for games against him, because he always has ideas that make you think, and in these games, if you’re not at 100 percent, you won’t get the right result.
“The last three times, the team that has gone through between us has won the Champions League, so maybe it can happen again this year.”
Real winger Rodrygo, who has scored four goals against City in past ties, is relishing the chance to add to that total. He scored twice in added-time in the 2022 semi-final second leg at the Bernabeu, as Real staged a dramatic late comeback to send City crashing out.
Rodrygo said: “I was speaking with Federico Valverdre. We watched that game and we asked if we would ever have another emotional night like that. I hope so. It was certainly the best moment in my career.”
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