European football governing body, UEFA has attempted to clear up some of the controversy surrounding Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr. missing out on the Ballon d’Or, and threatened legal action against anyone attributing comments to its President Aleksander Ceferin or other officials.
Vinicius Jr. was widely considered the favourite to win the men’s best player gong from France Football in the lead up to the magazine’s award ceremony on Monday.
Just hours ahead of a star-studded gala in Paris, however, it emerged that the Brazilian would be denied the prestigious accolade which instead went to Spain and Manchester City midfielder Rodri.
Madrid has been widely criticized and called a “pathetic”, “small club” among other things for cancelling its plans to send a delegation to the French capital once news of Vinicius’ disappointment was received.
This meant that nobody from the reigning La Liga and Champions League holders was present to pick up awards for team of the year, manager of the year and a top scorer prize shared by Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane and Los Blancos number 9 Kylian Mbappe.
Relevo cited an anonymous, senior UEFA executive being told that Madrid believes the award has lost credibility since the governing body collaborated with France Football on it.
“If they say something like that, that says everything about them. And then it does not deserve any further comment from us,” the executive reportedly said in response.
On Saturday, UEFA released a statement regarding comments that have been attributed to Ceferin and UEFA officials elsewhere.
“We categorically deny the assertions circulating about UEFA’s supposed comments on the outcome of the Ballon d’Or. Neither UEFA nor its president has made any statements or comments regarding the results of the award selection. Such information is entirely baseless and does not reflect reality,” it said.
Furthermore, UEFA warned that “any parties involved in disseminating these false statements” could be set to face legal action it will not refrain from pursuing.
On Tuesday, Madrid returns to playing UEFA’s flagship tournament the UCL by taking on one of its head coach Carlo Ancelotti’s former clubs in seven-time winners AC Milan.
Source: Forbes
