L'Equipe on Ballon d'Or: Real Madrid, an electoral defeat and a moral defeat

By refusing to attend the 68th Ballon d'Or ceremony, Real Madrid lacked class and trampled on the sporting value of respecting its winners.

By celebrating Rodri's coronation , this Monday evening at the Théâtre du Châtelet, world football remembered that the magic of the game extends to other areas than those covered by modern strikers: a midfielder was elected the best player in the world, which is at once justice, an explosion and a signal. This revenge of the architects on the soloists is also the signal that the hundred judges of France Football have chosen to distinguish intelligence, accuracy and collective sense, rather than statistics, ceasing to erect the attackers as kings of the world.

This situation is also a major shock, as Real Madrid refused to accept the unknown outcome in advance and declined to attend the ceremony in protest over rumors that Vinícius Jr. had been overlooked. They even withheld the participation of their other awardees, especially Carlo Ancelotti and Kylian Mbappé. Just three days after a 4-0 defeat by Barcelona, Madrid added a moral setback to their failure in the competition, blatantly disregarding the fundamental value of sportsmanship—respect for the victor. Such conduct undermines their future appeals for the same respect from others, though perhaps this aligns with the logic of a club that appears indifferent to football's greater good, one that seeks to choose its opponents and replace the Champions League with a more controllable Super League.

Meanwhile, a rivalry that was expected to last a decade has barely begun. A year after first stepping onto the podium, both Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé were absent this fall. Mbappé, who will turn 26 in December, faces a reality where Lionel Messi had already won four Ballon d'Ors by that age. The French national team captain will soon need to consider if he might ever win one himself—a goal once seen as inevitable, as he was expected to dominate the field like a force of nature.

After a seemingly underwhelming season, he scored 52 goals, a feat that arguably deserved more recognition but instead raised questions, emphasizing what he hasn’t achieved and what he no longer accomplishes. He needs to place his physical conditioning back at the heart of his weekly performance and career, to be a player driven by passion, to avoid becoming merely a striker assessed solely by goals, and to prevent fans from recalling his accelerations with mere nostalgia. When a season ends with so little impact despite a Champions League semi-final, a European Championship semi-final, and 52 goals, it indicates he may have drifted slightly from football's essence, and at 26, it’s time to reconnect with it.