Carlo Ancelotti has defended Real Madrid’s decision to boycott last year’s Ballon d’Or awards ahead of his team’s Champions League playoff against Manchester City.. Madrid did not attend October’s gala ceremony after Vinicius Junior was beaten to the award by City midfielder Rodri.. “I don’t think it was the wrong decision,” Ancelotti said in Monday’s presser. “We didn’t want to participate because we thought that Vinicius was the winner of the Ballon d’Or.. “And this doesn’t mean we have no respect of Rodri that won the Ballon d’Or because he is a fantastic player. But I think we thought, and I thought, that Rodrigo deserved to win the year before.”. City manager Pep Guardiola earlier said there was no bad blood between the rivals over Madrid’s no-show — and defender Ruben Dias also played down the issue.. “Being very honest with you, I didn’t spend one second thinking about if it was disrespectful or not. I was happy with Rodri. I was there. I celebrated with him that night,” Dias said.. Asked if there were any hard feelings, Guardiola said, “Absolutely not,” and was keen to draw a line under the incident.. “Vinicius make an extraordinary year as well (as Rodri),” he said. “He deserves it. Like in the past when (Lionel) Messi and Cristiano (Ronaldo) was fighting for that. The subject is over.”
