Real Madrid’s Ballon d’Or boycott ushers in the age of the super-sulk

Isn’t modern football just super? We’ve got superclubs, super-agents, Super Sunday, supercomputers, even – we’re not making this up – super-lawyers. And now, Real Madrid, a club that prides itself on conquering new ground, has ushered in the age of the super-sulk. Madrid effectively boycotted last night’s Ballon d’Or ceremony, no doubt setting a precedent for future club-wide tantrums, when they heard a whisper that Vinícius Júnior wasn’t going to win the big prize.

It went instead to Manchester City’s Rodri, who became only the second player born in Spain, and the first true No 6, to win the men’s award. Our cousin, Actual Journalism Daily, says Madrid were planning a five-hour broadcast on their TV channel and had arranged to send 50 people to the do in Paris. On the night: nada. Zilch. Sweet bugger all. Madrid did win three big awards – they were team of the year, Carlo Ancelotti was coach of the year and Kylian Mbappé shared the Gerd Müller trophy with Harry Kane for his goalscoring exploits – but there was nobody from the club there to collect or even acknowledge them.

Now look, Vinícius is one of Football Daily’s favourite players; we’ve been prattling on about him for years, long before you peasants. But the way Madrid are behaving, you’d think he was the lovechild of Diego Maradona and Roy Race who notched 812 goals last season. Let’s look at Vinícius’ 2023-24 numbers. He was the joint-eighth top-scorer in La Liga, behind, among others, a Norwegian fella who couldn’t get a game for Crystal Palace a few years ago. In the Champions League, the Brazilian scored six goals, one more than Stoke reject Joselu, who played 628 minutes fewer. At the Copa América he scored twice in the group stages, then got himself suspended and missed the quarter-final defeat to Uruguay.

Gratuitous presentation of stats aside, Vinícius had a brilliant season and could easily have won it. But then, so could Jude Bellingham, and Rodri was a deserving winner. It’s hardly akin to giving the 1986 World Cup Golden Ball award to Hans-Peter Briegel or Peter Reid. Also, it’s a bloody vote, not a unanimous decision made by a few mysterious old duffers over a five-hour lunch. You’d think Madrid might have more respect for the importance of the No 6 position, given their egomaniacal decision to sell Claude Makélélé in 2003 was the start of an 11-year Big Cup drought, in which they spent most of the time looking down their nose in bemusement at teams that had just put them out in the last 16.

History will surely record that Monday’s monumental act of pettiness was Madrid’s worst for at least 48 hours. Maybe this collective loss of noggin occurred because their heads were still spinning from Saturday’s humiliation at the hands of Barcelona’s under-eights. Perhaps the president, Florentino Pérez, wasn’t thinking straight because he’d just been told that somebody had enrolled Kylian Mbappé in the Eden Hazard Motivational School. And maybe, unconsciously, Pérez realised it was now or never for Vinícius because Lamine Yamal is going to win the next 23 Ballons d’Or.

“If the award criteria doesn’t give it to Vinícius as the winner, then those same criteria should point to Carvajal as the winner,” said Madrid in a statement, refusing to acknowledge the concept of the vote lest it weaken their argument. “As this was not the case, it is clear that Ballon d’Or-Uefa does not respect Real Madrid. And Real Madrid does not go where it is not respected.” That could make a few away games tricky to organise.

Join Daniel Harris for piping-hot Fizzy Cup updates from Brentford 2-0 Sheffield Wednesday (8pm GMT kick-off) while Scott Murray is on hand for England 4-0 South Africa in their women’s international friendly in Coventry (7.45pm kick-off).

“You hear stories about people’s families, dads, uncles, grandads and it just hits home. People might be getting bored of me on social media, posting my runs on X and Strava, but we’re doing it for a reason: to raise awareness and for people to understand this disease is taking too many lives” – Doncaster Rovers manager Grant McCann chats to Ben Fisher about the unexpected joys of running 10km a day for the annual Prostate United challenge.

“To be fair to the Real Madrid players, if they didn’t even turn up to the Bernabéu for el clásico, it’s no surprise they didn’t go to Paris just for some awards ceremony” – Noble Francis.

“When I was eight, I flounced off to my bedroom to cry after not getting the biggest slice of cake at my own birthday party. Real Madrid were founded in 1902, making them somewhat older. But recent events invite the reader to judge who is the more childish” – Charles Antaki.

The “Caley Thistle go ballistic…..” headline is a classic, but my favourite is from the April 1979 European Cup semi-final first-leg match between Nottingham Forest and Cologne. Yasuhiko Okudera came off the Cologne bench to score a late equaliser in the 3-3 game. The Herald headline was ‘Forest Sunk By Japanese Sub’” – Jim Scullion.

“Best headline of all time was indisputably Goal’s risque comment on the failure of Juventus to beat Belarusian team Bate Borisov in a Champions League game in Turin: ‘Old Lady unable to master [snip! – Football Daily Ed]” – Adrian Irving.

Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Jim Scullion, who lands a Football Weekly scarf. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.

It’s your boi, David Squires, on another wild weekend in the Premier League, and the latest instalment in the circus that is Manchester United.

Rúben Amorim to Manchester United is very much ON. Sporting have confirmed an approach from the English side and are lining up a replacement in João Pereira. Whoever takes the reins at Old Trafford will have limited coin to spend in January, though.

Qatar’s Akram Afif has been named the AFC’s player of the year for a second time, with Brighton and Japan’s Kiko Seike securing the women’s title in Seoul.

Manchester City have appointed former Sweden midfielder and “undisputed icon” Therese Sjögran as their women’s director of football. Tom Garry has the story.

Diogo Jota’s rib ouch will rule the Liverpool forward out until after the next international break, so says Arne Slot.

Mikel Merino has insisted Arsenal will not give up on the Premier League title. “Injuries are part of the game and they cannot be an excuse for results”, roared the Spaniard.

And the Scotland women’s coach, Pedro Martínez Losa, is hoping his players can back up his hubris in tonight’s Euro 2025 playoff second leg at Easter Road. After winning 1-0 in Hungary, the Spaniard said: “We know there’s no way we’re going to lose the game at home”. Bonne chance, Pedro.

A word for Ademola Lookman, the former Charlton and Everton winger who finished 14th at the Ballon d’Or ceremony following his performances for Atalanta last season, which included an unforgettable hat-trick in the Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen. Lookman brought his youth coach, Felix Emanus, to the awards, a man who he has known since he was nine years old at Waterloo FC, a grassroots club in London. Emanus also attended the Europa League final, and afterwards explained how he had sent the following text message to Lookman before the match. “This will be a season to remember. Now to put the icing on the cake. Time to deliver. One of those Waterloo-type performances. You used to believe as a kid where you were. Unplayable. Imagination. Creativity. Aggressive, attacking football. Calm finishing. You will need all these attributes to become a winner on the night. Play well, my friend.” If reading that text message doesn’t give you goosebumps, maybe this video will. Roll the tape.

Overhauling the Manchester United squad - not to mention the club’s culture – would be an almighty task for Rúben Amorim, writes Jonathan Wilson.

Erik ten Hag “got” Manchester United and deserved better than being dismissed after a poor start to the campaign, writes Erik ten Ha fan Nick Hopkins.

Jacklin Juma is blazing a trail as the first female manager in the Kenyan Premier League. John Duerden has more.

Something about Rodri’s Ballon d’Or award speaks to a shift where football is not all about goals, muses Sid Lowe.

Jason Stockwood argues that if a football club’s people and culture aren’t aligned, using data will not work.

A close-up view of the damage to Paul Gascoigne’s right knee in January 1992, seven months after his infamous 1991 FA Cup final tackle on Nottingham Forest’s Gary Charles. The Tottenham star ruptured a cruciate ligament. “I was determined to go out on a high, to show the world how good I was, to please the Tottenham fans and my own family too,” Gazza said in his book. “I was a bit revved up, even before I got on the pitch.”