Ballon d'Or: New twist as reports claim Rodri, not Vinicius Jr is the winner, Madrid to boycott ceremony
Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr has reportedly refused to attend tonight's Ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris, as he believes the result is a foregone conclusion.
The Spanish press has reported no player, member of the management or coaching staff will be in attendance at the glitzy ceremony tonight, held at the Theatre du Chatelet.
The shock news comes after it was reportedly leaked on Sunday that the winner of football's most iconic individual prize was Vinicius Jr.
But in a twist of fate, this list was wrong and the winner is in fact Manchester City's midfield maestro, Rodri.
RMC reported that 'Real president Florentino Perez is furious' and as a consequence, the 'Real Madrid delegation has cancelled its visit to Paris'.
The official unveiling of the new winner will be confirmed at Monday's glitzy awards ceremony, which will be held this evening.
But the result claimed to have been leaked as a list showing the top 12 players based on voting points went viral via social media on Sunday.
The unconfirmed list shows Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior as the winner with 630 points – 54 more than Manchester City midfielder Rodri in second.
On the 'leaked' list, Jude Bellingham is third, while two other England stars are also in the top eight – Harry Kane in fifth and Phil Foden in eighth.
Kylian Mbappe is fourth, Lamine Yamal is seventh, while Dani Olmo, Florian Wirtz, Dani Carvajal and Antonio Rudiger are ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th respectively.
However, perhaps surprisingly, Man City goal machine Erling Haaland is only sixth on the list with 195 points.
Haaland - who finished second behind Messi in 2023 - scored 38 goals in 45 games for City last season.
One Portuguese-speaking journalist who shared the list on X (formerly Twitter) commented: 'If this really is the leaked Ballon d'Or list, what explains Haaland in 6th? Vini Jr deservedly the best in the world.'