Real Madrid were left surprised by the decision to award Manchester City the Club of the Year title at this year’s Ballon d’Or awards, with the European champions ranking third.
Premier League champions Manchester City have won the Club of the Year award at the 2022 Ballon d’Or ceremony.
The award follows on from City receiving the highest number of nominations across the different categories at the Ballon d’Or and saw the club finish ahead of Liverpool in second and Real Madrid, who finished third.
The reaction in Spain on the whole has been one of bewilderment. Real Madrid tweeted out the two eyes emoji shortly after the award was announced, a non-explicit show of surprise.
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— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) October 17, 2022
Speaking on Spanish radio station Cadena Ser on Monday night, Karim Benzema – who was crowned as the best male player at the awards ceremony – added: “For me, Real Madrid is always the best club in the world, then you can give the trophy to whoever you want.”
While Thibaut Courtois Speaking after the gala, explained that the Real Madrid players themselves found it absurd.
🎙 Thibaut Courtois: “When Manchester City won the trophy for the best club? We looked at each other and laughed.” pic.twitter.com/1Ngt1LtNBm
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) October 18, 2022
What exactly the criteria for the award was remains unclear, but Manchester City certainly deserves to win the Club of the Year award.
In addition to the Club of the Year award, Kevin De Bruyne finished third in the race for the Ballon d’Or and Ederson was third in the Yashin Trophy.
Kevin De Bruyne has become the first player in the history of Manchester City to be named one of the top three players in the world.
Ederson was in the category for the best goalkeeper and came third.
Seven players were nominated across three categories for City, with Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Joao Cancelo, Lucy Bronze, and Ederson all recognised.
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