‘It is a Ballon d’Or for Spain’ – Barcelona star issues further praise on national success achieved by Manchester City’s Rodri | OneFootball

Manchester City’s recently-crowned Ballon d’Or winner Rodri has received yet more mammoth support following his historic success in Paris last month.

The latest comments come prior to the Premier League champions’ welcoming home their global superstar following his success in the French capital, with the club confirming earlier this week an intention to celebrate the Spaniard’s success on Saturday evening.

Ahead of Manchester City’s Premier League meeting with Tottenham Hotspur, the club confirmed earlier this week that Rodri will be presented on the Etihad Stadium pitch with the Ballon d’Or trophy.

As such, City fans will have their first opportunity to celebrate with the Spanish international and show their appreciation for a historic achievement, with proceedings to begin at around 17:15 (UK) ahead of the 17:30 kick-off against Ange Postecoglou’s side.

In the meantime, messages of congratulations and celebration of Rodri’s achievement in becoming the first defensive midfielder to win the Ballon d’Or since Germany’s Lothar Matthaus in 1990 have continued to pour in.

Speaking during the international break, Barcelona and Spain star Dani Olmo piled on the praise for his close friend following his Ballon d’Or triumph, insisting that the success was also a win for Spanish football as a whole following years of excellence in midfield in particular.

“The year he had or the years he has had in the past, with the icing on the cake of the European Championship, for which he was chosen as the best player, he deserved it,” Olmo told reporters this week.

He continued, “Seeing Rodri celebrating that moment with his family was very nice. What he said conveys what many of us feel: it is a Ballon d’Or for Spanish football.

“There were two beasts of world football that swept everything (in Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo), and it is Spanish football that won.”

Unfortunately for lovers of the game, Rodri remains sidelined with a double knee injury and is unlikely to return to action for Manchester City until the summer of 2025 at the very earliest, with the FIFA Club World Cup tenuously pencilled in as a possible return date.

In the meantime, Manchester City will continue to source solutions to stand-in for their Ballon d’Or winner, with the likes of Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan having been preferred by Pep Guardiola so far.