The 2024 Ballon d’Or has kicked up quite the debate after Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri pipped Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Vinícius Júnior to the prestigious award.
It seems that Vinícius Júnior has quite the following, and his fans, along with various pundits – not to mention Real Madrid themselves, were not pleased with the outcome.
The Spanish giants may regret their actions in the future.
They refused to attend the Ballon d’Or ceremony in apparent protest against the decision not to award Vinícius Júnior the title of best player of the 2023/24 season.
Rodri had a phenomenal campaign, winning trophies for both club and country, so a high ranking in the list was to be expected anyway; Vinícius Júnior helped Real Madrid win the 2023/24 La Liga and the UEFA Champions League but was unable to bring similar glory in a Brazil shirt in the 2024 Copa America, despite scoring twice in the group stage.
With the outrage over Vinícius Júnior not being crowned, Rodri has almost fallen by the wayside.
As a result, he is not receiving as many plaudits as he perhaps should – but on the flip side, is there meat in the argument for Vinícius Júnior winning the award this year?
This data analysis uses various statistics to provide some insight to help you decide: Was Rodri rightfully crowned? Or was Vinícius Júnior robbed?
Vinícius Jr Vs Rodri Criteria
The aim of this data analysis is to learn about each players impact in the 23/24 season—mainly for their respective clubs, but with some insight into their role in international competition as well.
We will look at Rodri’s position-relevant statistics first, comparing his data to central midfielders who played a minimum of 2000 minutes in the 23/24 season (this includes defensive midfielders and ‘8s’, but the only attacking midfielders/10s involved are those who played some minutes in a deeper role that season).
Regarding his EURO data, the minimum for minutes was set at 275.
We will then assess Vinícius Júnior’s data.
As he played as both a winger and a 9 last season, all wingers and 9s were included in the data search, allowing us to compare him in a wider setting using metrics of both positions.
The minimum number of minutes set for the La Liga data search was 2000.
Rodri Radar Chart – Manchester City & Spain
This stat chart provides some insight into why Rodri is the best in the world in his role.
Last season, he achieved high percentiles for several passing statistics compared to other players in his position in Europe’s top five leagues, as well as various attacking metrics.
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