Manchester City star Rodri has reportedly been named as this year’s Ballon d’Or winner after a series of reports and leaks online.
The Spanish midfield maestro who has been integral to Man City’s success ever since he joined back in 2019 – especially in their Treble-winning year as he scored the only goal in the Champions League final to seal the magnificent feat – was named among the frontrunners for the coveted sporting award.
With that in mind, when it was reported that not a single member of Real Madrid’s team would be travelling to the 2024 Ballon d’Or ceremony on Monday (that includes Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior, by the way) subsequent rumours that Rodri name is already on the trophy followed.
Multiple so-called ‘leaks’ like this have been circulating on social media and while this doesn’t necessarily confirm anything, it was the follow-up coverage by reliable football reporter Fabrizio Romano that has added extra fuel to the fire.
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The Italian transfer expert and breaking football news specialist first backed up fellow journalist Fabrice Hawkins’ claim that Vini Jr would not be attending the awards in Paris tonight, before adding that neither would a single representative from Madrid.
When not a single member of Los Blancos is turning up whatsoever, you know there’s something amiss…
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Meanwhile, the 28-year-old defensive midfielder – who also still contributed nine goals and 14 assists across all competitions – has already been filmed arriving in the French capital for the 68th edition of the annual event.
City themselves also posted what admittedly does feel like a not-so-subtly timed compilation of the number 16’s best bits from his standout 2023/24 campaign.
Once again, much of this still remains largely conjecture but if the talents playing for the La Liga giants truly aren’t attending the event itself, you would assume it’s because they know they’re not winning and if they’re ruled out then that would mean Rodri is one of a very small few contenders left at the top of list.
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Rodri is currently out for the rest of the season, having suffered a serious injury during Euro 2024 after leading his country to the final when they beat England this past summer, with the worst ultimately being confirmed after a short-lived comeback against Arsenal last month.
That being said, his absence from Pep Guardiola’s squad is noticeable and his impact when he is available cannot be overstated.
City very rarely lose when Rodri is in the starting lineup and when you’re talking about a player who has won more trophies (8) than he has lost games for club and country since 2023 (4), it’s not hard to see why he’s tipped as favourite to win the 2024 Ballon d’Or. The ceremony takes place at 7:45pm tonight.
Meanwhile, the mood is ironically rather blue over in the red half of Manchester as United manager Erik ten Hag‘s time at Old Trafford has come to an end after two and a half years.
Rúben Amorim’s Man United press conference interrupted by Old Trafford roof leaking – again
Danny Jones
Manchester United manager Rúben Amorim has been given plenty doses of reality since arriving at Old Trafford but surely there can’t be any more telling than the stadium’s roof leaking into his press conference?
Poetic irony timed to perfection.
Not only did the new head coach have to sit in front of journalists as he tried to wrap his head around another Premier League implosion following the 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth – a team now sat in fifth, it’s worth noting – but he also got to witness the condition the stadium first hand.
And when we say first hand, we mean literally right in front of his face.
In case you wanted a summary of how much work there is to be done at Man United, the roof started leaking during Ruben Amorim’s press conference. 💦
In this instance, not only was the leak internal but Amorim’s post-match press conference was actually briefly interrupted as drops of water fell on the desk in front of him.
You can hear reporters asking what it is (they knew full well) before United’s press officer can be heard off-camera asking them to quickly move on. Sports writer Sanny Rudravajhala quipped, “A new meaning to the leaks at #mufc”, in reference to dressing room talk and lineups still being fed to the media.
Make what you will of Amorim‘s expressions in this moment but let’s just say he can’t have been expecting to have to worry about things like this when he accepted the job.
A penny for the Portugueseman’s thoughts when he looked up and saw that leak coming from the ceiling:
The moment Ruben Amorim's press conference is interrupted by a leak at Old Trafford pic.twitter.com/gqc8fW20Om
Although many are deeply reticent to let the iconic Theatre of Dreams go after more than a century of history and sporting memories, scenes like this certainly go a long way to arguing the case for a whole new home ground rather than simply renovating as it appears to be in such a sorry state of disrepair.
But even with a brand-new state-of-the-art footballing arena, it doesn’t do anything to address improving performances on the pitch as even with eye-watering sums invested in the squad over recent years, they still look way off it and serious work needs to be done for them to catch up with the pack.
You can watch the highlights from Man United vs Bournemouth below:
The leaking roof wasn’t the only thing raining down on Amorim as the derby day high was followed by a frustrating festive low.
Featured Images — BeanymanSports (screenshot via YouTube)
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An old clip of Tyson Fury talking about Oleksandr Usyk has come back to haunt him – twice
Danny Jones
This weekend saw Oleksandr Usyk emerge victorious over Tyson Fury for a second time in less than a year as the Ukrainian won the highly-anticipated rematch on points, and now an old clip of the Manc fighter dismissing his opponent has resurfaced online. Again.
Oh, the irony…
After losing following a split decision for what was his first career defeat back in May, Fury lost following a unanimous decision this time around and while some have questioned the scorecards (as tends to happen with these things), there can be no question over Usyk’s dominance now.
However, rewind to a few years ago before the 37-year-old had even won his first fight against Anthony Joshua and Fury’s naive not to mention controversial comments regarding the possibility of ‘giving’ him a fight look pretty silly now:
Tyson Fury a few years ago refusing to fight Usyk
“I want the big fights and that ain’t one of them. He’s a foreigner in a westernised world. The heavyweight champion should be from Britain or America and nowhere else.”
As you can see in the interview from 2020, the now 36-year-old Wythenshawe-born boxer was pretty dismissive about the prospect of fighting Usyk, who ultimately went on to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 2000 following the first win over Fury.
Despite already having an Olympic gold, multiple cruiserweight titles and an undefeated record to his name, Usyk had only fought and won two heavyweight bouts at this point, which is perhaps why ‘The Gypsy King’ felt comfortable downplaying his potential back then.
However, although Usyk had a comfortable division debut against Chazz Witherspoon in 2019, he also went on to best Fury’s familiar foe Derek Chisora – a man he’s beaten on three different times but maintains he admires both in terms of personality and ability – so there were signs of what was to come.
Moreover, not only was Tyson clearly foolish enough to underestimate him back then but the divisive and inflammatory nature of his remarks in this clip has been labelled ‘offensive’ and ‘xenophobic’ by many online, both at the time and after reappearing on social media once again.
Regardless, it seems that Usyk was just as unphased by his posturing then as he is now, coming out in the post-fight press conference to shrug off his trash-talking to reiterate his “respect” for someone who ultimately believes is “a good man”.
Nevertheless, Fury has now lost two him twice and still maintains he didn’t get the right decision on both occasions, dubbing this latest defeat “an early Christmas gift” for his opponent.
In the previous clash, the Greater Manchester athlete even claimed that fans and judges unfairly favoured him because of the war in Ukraine – a response which also received plenty of backlash.
You can hear how he believes he was ‘robbed’ along with his full reaction following the fight down below:
Danny Jones -
28th October 2024 
