Between indifference and perplexity. This is how Madrid experienced the Ballon d’Or Gala ceremony, in which it was taken for granted that Karim Benzema would at least be recognized for his impressive year at Real Madrid, including him on the podium of the hitherto prestigious award. “We already knew that with what they have done this year, the award could be won by Lewandoswki or Benzema, both with many football and human merits, but leaving Karim as fourth makes it clear that the criteria for this award are beginning to be very debatable”, they comment on the noble floor of the club.
Benzema himself put a tweet assuring that “thank you all for the support, I play for you and the show must continue”, referring to those thousands of fans who have shown a lot of respect for him and a deep discomfort for the non-inclusion of Karim in the top three of the award.
In Madrid they value the absence of the French player in the Gala logic, both because of the disappointment at not being valued as he deserves and because of his commitment to the white jersey, preferring to stay in the capital to train (in the morning at Valdebebas and in the afternoon at his home gym in Madrid) to better prepare for this Wednesday’s match at the Bernabéu against Athletic Bilbao. “Benzema has the Ballon d’Or of the Madridistas’ affection for him. With that he feels more than satisfied. He does not need individual awards,” they proudly insist with Karim within the club.
Nor is it very well understood in the Valdebebas offices that Vinicius has not been selected even among the 30 finalists for the Ballon d’Or, despite the fact that already in spring he had a stratospheric tie against Klopp’s Liverpool with two goals that ended up being decisive . And his start to the season at Madrid has been brutal. Let’s not forget that it was possible to vote until October 25, coinciding with the Carioca’s exhibition at the Camp Nou Classic.
In the end, Madrid was represented at the Paris Gala by Butragueño, who made friends with Leonardo (would they talk about Mbappé, who was a row in front of them?) And Fernando Alonso, Madrid’s Honorary Partner and who was one of the secret bearers of one of the Ballons d’Or delivered at the ceremony.