France Football editor-in-chief Vincent Garcia suggested that Real Madrid teammates Jude Bellingham and Dani Carvajal hurt Vincius Jr’s chances of winning the Ballon d’Or.

Vinicius was considered the favorite for the men’s player award for some time leading up to the magazine’s ceremony.

However, it was a shocking development just hours before a star-studded gala began in Paris, media outlets like RMC reported that the Brazilian would be denied the chance to become his country’s first Ballon d’Or winner since Kaka in 2007.

Madrid had originally planned to send a delegation to the French capital to witness Vinicius’ coronation, but those plans were canceled in response to the sensational development.

After Rodri was instead awarded the sport’s highest individual honor, Vinicius took to X, formerly known as Twitter, promising to play “ten times” better and warning that “they are not ready” for his comeback after the disappointment .

Keep talking L’Equipe Garcia, editor-in-chief of TV’s France Football, explained: “Of course, Vinicius certainly suffered from the presence of Bellingham and Carvajal in the top five because mathematically it deducted some points from him.”

“That also sums up Real Madrid’s season, in which between three and four players came (into the top 30) and the juries distributed their decisions among them, which benefited Rodri,” he added.

Garcia revealed that he “got a lot of pressure from Real Madrid, but like other clubs, I was always clear and fair, and maybe my silence pushed them to the limit.”

“But it was the same as the others. I was very unpleasantly surprised that it wasn’t there,” he stressed.

Garcia particularly regrets Madrid’s attitude towards his non-appearance. “We were very clear with them and all the other clubs. This year the winner was not notified. I thought everyone agreed, but at the last moment, I don’t know why, they wanted to change the rule,” Garcia claimed.

Elsewhere at the Ballon d’Or ceremony, FC Barcelona’s homegrown talents Lamine Yamal and Aitana Bonmati won the Best Young Player and Women’s Player awards respectively.

While Vinicius now resumes his campaign to perhaps get his hands on the prize this time next year, Lamine is being touted as a potential rival in 2025 after finishing eighth in the last edition.