“You need to be able to win and be able to lose”
Rodri says he’s not upset about the absence of the Real Madrid team from the ceremony that crowned him the Ballon d’Or winner ahead of Vinicius, but he feels the same way about it. You must know how to win, you must also know how to lose.
In an interview published this Saturday France FootballThe magazine that created this award recognizing the best player recognizes that I’d rather everyone be presentreferring to Real Madrid who were absent when they realized that Vinicius would not be the winner as neither Jude Bellingham nor Dani Carvajal, who were third and fourth, were present.
“I have to respect everyone’s decision. Although I wouldn’t do the same. But they do what they want.”
The Spanish Manchester City defender insists that he He didn’t hesitate when it came to attending the ceremony in Paris on October 28th. when he didn’t know he would win the Ballon d’Or: “When your value is recognized at a very high level, you can move forward, whether you become the final winner or not.”
In fact, he remembers that last year he was there too, although Erling Haaland was in his favorite position and he wanted to be there “to support him in this unique moment. losing is important too.”
Rodri insists that he was not informed in advance
This year, given his injury, which forced him to use crutches, participating in this ceremony was also a “breath of oxygen” for him. Rodri insists that he was not informed in advance that he would be the winner, and then was surprised that everyone asked him if he knew in advance.
“Nobody told me anything before the ceremony. I knew that would be the rule this year,” he says, emphasizing that he considers this strategy “excellent.”
He notes that when he was about to board a plane to Paris on the same day as the ceremony, he received messages from friends who told him that Real Madrid would not be at the ceremony, and his first reaction was that he didn’t believe it. .
Upon landing in Paris, he received congratulatory messages and then began to think that things were going in the right direction: “I got on the plane just to take part in the ceremony, and landed practically in a position of victory.”
As soon as the jury’s verdict was known, he received hundreds of congratulations, and the first one he responded to was Andres Iniesta, whom he considers “the best Spanish player of all time, who would have deserved the Ballon d’Or” (he finished second in 2010 and the third in 2012).
When asked what is so special about him that he has won this award, Rodri says that he is not actually the fastest or has the best pass in the world, but he is “special in his understanding of the game.”
“I constantly understand where I can be the best and where I can contribute the most to my team. I know when I should put pressure on my teammates, when I should back off, when I should accelerate and when I should slow down.” stop the adverse action, call the foul at the right time.”
“And above all,” he adds, “my strength is my consistency,” which is “the hardest thing in football. That’s why I think Messi and Cristiano are the greatestbecause no one had such perfection game after game for fifteen years. Nobody. At my level, this requirement allowed me, for example, to play 73 games in a row without defeat.”
As for what he thinks he can still improve on, Rodri points to “controlling (his) emotions”, especially when he loses, because he admits that in such moments he can have a bad temper and should learn to “keep your cool.” head.”