Few disagreed, just under a year ago, when the Golden Ball of the 2023/24 season was handed over that Spanish Rodrigo, Manchester City, and Real Madrid Brazilian Vinicius Junior had been the best soccer players in the world in the period. If there was controversy, it was about the order of classification between them.
The scenario, at the beginning of the 2025/26 season is quite distinct. For different reasons, after a frustrating 2024/25, these two athletes have difficulty re -establishing their status as before.
Rodrigo Hernández, Rodrigo, today a 29-year-old midfielder, has played little since he received the Golden Ball. When he won the prestigious trophy of the French magazine France Football, at the historic Châtelet Theater in Paris, was of crutches, accessories of his recovery from a ligament rupture in the right knee.
He returned only in May, after eight months, and his prolonged absence was pointed out as one of the reasons for City’s disappointing year, with no titles for the first time since 2016/17, the premiere season at the club of Pep Guardiola coach. At the Club World Cup, it injured the groin in the round of 16 in July, in the elimination against Saudi Al Hilal.
Therefore, Guardiola has already warned that she intends to control the athlete’s load this season. Rodrigo was out of City’s first match in the English Championship, a 4-0 win over Wolverhampton, by Portuguese coach Vítor Pereira, last weekend. It was related to the duel with Tottenham, this Sunday (24), but still does not know how many minutes will have on the field.
“I want a consistent Rodrigue, that’s all. He is, for now, the best player in the world. Consistency will come with training and games, training and games, week after week … Then everything will be fine,” said the coach.
Vinicius also had physical problems – the most severe of them a left ankle twist in May – but nothing as serious as Roda’s. Still, it was far from the expectation created after the frustration of the loss of the golden ball.
Those who expected a bitten player, offended by defeat, saw someone downcast. Vini was chosen the best of the 2023/24 season by FIFA (International Football Federation), but this award has much less prestige than offered by France Football.
The young man from São Gonçalo, now a 25 -year -old striker, lived the period 2024/25 below his standard. Not that a year with 22 goals and 16 assists is bad, but things just didn’t unfold in the best way.
The partnership with Frenchman Kylian Mbappé did not start fluidly. And Real Madrid, even though he won the brief Cup of Europe and Intercontinental Cup, suffered – which led the direction to end the very victorious was Carlo Ancelotti.
It was a year of remarkable defeats, with goals suffered against Archirrival Barcelona. Coach Xabi Alonso, the club’s idol in the days of a player, who has already started his career with a 4-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup semifinals.
After a brief vacation, Real Madrid debuted in the Spanish Championship last Tuesday (19), with a 1-0 win over Osasuna, a penalty goal conceded and charged by Mbappé. Vinicius, discreet, was only praised for the willingness to contribute to the marking, something charged by the new boss.
“We all want it to be decisive. He has a unique and unpredictable football style. When he can have fun and connect with his essence, he helps the team a lot,” said Alonso, who avoided publicly speaking of negotiations for renewal of the Brazilian contract – the commitment is expected to end 2027, and there is an impasse.
Vinicius’s name will not be in the next call for Ancelotti, his old commander at Real, now coach of the national team. The striker is suspended from the duel with Chile in Rio de Janeiro for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, and the Italian decided to leave him out of the next game against Bolivia at 4,150 m Alto.
Brazil is already classified to the world swollen, with 48 participants. Ancelotti sees Vinicius as a fundamental piece in the fight for hexa, but at this moment he prefers to give Fluminense rest and time, while seeking to have greater contact with athletes who do not know well.
