Real Madrid superstar Vinicius Junior has decided to snub the 2024 Ballon d’Or ceremony at the last minute after the results were ‘leaked’ online.
The Brazilian was thought to be among the favourites and some pundits had tipped him to clinch the Ballon d’Or instead of Manchester City’s Rodri.
The Ballon d’Or is given to the best player in world football every year and the 68th annual ceremony is set to take place in Paris later tonight.
A total of 30 players were nominated for the 2024 Ballon d’Or – including Vinicius Junior – and according to the leaked results, the Madrid star was set to land it.
Those leaked results seem to be incorrect, though, after Vinicius Junior decided at the very last minute not to travel to Paris for the ceremony.
According to Spanish outlet Marca, Real Madrid had booked a plane that was scheduled to leave Adolfo Suárez Barajas airport at 3pm.
But the club has cancelled the trip ‘in response to information received from Paris’ and there will now be no-one from Real at the ceremony at all.
It caps off a miserable few days for Vinicius Junior after Real were humiliated 4-0 at home in El Clasico by their bitter rivals Barcelona on Saturday.
During the match, Vinicius Junior was involved in a tense confrontation with Barca’s star midfielder Gavi.
Gavi was seen flashing four fingers right in the 24-year-old’s face to remind him of the scoreline.
‘Yes, yes, but on Monday I’m going for the Ballon d’Or,’ Vinicius Junior told Gavi, as per reports from El Chiringuito.
Meanwhile, Thierry Henry recently revealed his pick for the Ballon d’Or, and almost went for Vinicius Junior, but decided against it after his performances for Brazil at the Copa America.
‘Vini Jr didn’t perfom at the Copa America,’ Henry said. ‘But is he [still] a worthy winner? Yes.’