Giorgio Chiellini claims Juventus teammate Cristiano Ronaldo “was robbed of the Ballon d’Or last year, as Real Madrid wanted to stop him winning.”
The trophy went to Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder Luka Modric in 2018, while this evening the winner was Barcelona star Lionel Messi.
Ronaldo skipped the ceremony for two years running after learning he would not be holding the golden globe aloft.
Asked about the decisions, Chiellini made some remarkable comments on Sky Sport Italia.
“Ronaldo was really robbed of the Ballon d'Or last season, when Real Madrid decided to make sure he couldn't win it and that was really weird,” said the defender.
“This season, it was more balanced. With all due respect, Modric even in his best season of his career didn't deserve it. That was a signal from Real Madrid, as they wanted to stop Ronaldo winning it.
“He won the Champions League, but by that logic, (Liverpool defender Virgil) Van Dijk should've won it this year, or last year (Antoine) Griezmann, (Paul) Pogba or (Kylian) Mbappe for doing extraordinary things at the World Cup. Modric made no sense.”
Cristiano Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or on five occasions, while Messi now has six.
Nadan7
836
Seems like Sarri is sharing his cigarettes 😂
FaithEvans
331
Ronaldo would rest in all competitions just to be fresh for 13 Champions League games hoping that the weight it carries in the balond'OR voting process would propel him to win it... That's not a bad strategy unless it's a world cup year, u can't play well in only the UCL and be average or resting in other competitions expecting to be the best
Ceuakmtuyz
304
He's right, if it wasn't for Ronaldo abd his goals Madrid would not have won the last champions league and it's clear to see that modric did not deserve this award cause he is totally lost on the field. Madrid has been nothing since Ronaldo left. The guy broke a record in ucl with his goals that same season and he was clearly robbed of the award to a player that only had 1 assist in that entire ucl campaign, that's really unfair
Bikdenprsu
270
That same RM was reason he got last 4 golden ball.
I guess Madrid was also the reason he got his balon dor at Manchester United. delusional idiot