The Ballon d’Or rankings for this year have come under fire from Neymar, who thinks his international teammate Vinicius Junior should have placed higher.
The Real Madrid star finished eighth in the standings this year as his club colleague and attacking partner Karim Benzema took home his first Ballon d’Or trophy on Monday night.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mane, and Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne rounded out the top three.
Neymar, who was completely left off of the 30-player shortlist, criticized the decision to not place Vinicius in the top three.
The gifted striker starred in Real Madrid’s victory in La Liga and scored the game-winning goal in this year’s Champions League final.
He bagged 21 goals and provided 20 assists across the league and Champions League last season.
Neymar shared a post on Twitter that congratulated Benzema on his triumph. However, was also critical of Vinicius missing out on a podium finish: “Benzema deserved it.
Benzema merecido 👏🏽👏🏽 craque!!
Agora o Vini jr estar em 8 não dá
😂😂😂😂
Mínimo entre os 3— Neymar Jr (@neymarjr) October 18, 2022
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“But for Vini, being 8th is not possible. He should at least be in the top three.”
Despite Neymar’s criticism, others have defended Vinicius’ ranking, seeing his top-eight position as recognition for his strong season in the Spanish capital and his contribution at the international level in the run-up to this winter’s World Cup finals.
The forward’s Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti commented on his ranking: “I think it’s fair, because this allows him to try to improve what he did last year, in which it was almost all new for everyone to see him with that continuity (in the team) and quality.
“It will motivate him to do even better.”
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