The holder of the Ballon d\'Or in 1986, Igor Belanov, commented on the unexpected victory of Rodri in this year\'s voting, rather than Vinicius.
Igor Belanov— How can this be? Since September, everyone was talking about Vinicius as the main candidate for the Ballon d\'Or, and then suddenly everything changed in favor of another player almost a day before the France Football results announcement ceremony. I recall that I was informed about the victory in the poll of this publication a month before the award ceremony, and what about now? How to explain all these changes? However, if we remember situations with Iniesta and Lewandowski, I am no longer surprised by anything.
It seems that the results determining the winner of the Ballon d\'Or are influenced by Arab sheikhs or bookmakers. They placed bets, say, all on Vinicius — and then you have a completely different laureate. However, as for the Brazilian, he is only 24 years old — and he has every reason to eventually win the title of the best footballer of the year in the near future. He just needs to be patient,” said Belanov.
