The Ballon d'Or is bad for football. There is simply no way that an individual honour should have attained such importance within a team sport. The hope was that it would provoke less outrage after the end of the Lionel Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo rivalry responsible for its disproportionate level of popularity - but no such luck there.
Last year's ceremony was, in fact, the most farcical and bewildering yet, with Real Madrid refusing to turn up after learning that their star winger Vincius Jr had been pipped to top spot on the podium by Rodri. The Manchester City and Spain midfielder was a most worthy winner, but Vinicius and his employers couldn't even bring themselves to attend Rodri's arguably overdue coronation as the best player in the world, making their b*tching and moaning about a lack of respect look like the height of unintentional irony.
It was a surprisingly pathetic display of petulance from a player that has earned so many admirers around the world for his at-times one-man fight against racism in Spain - but a predictably petty show of entitlement from the most conceited club in football.
