Vincent García, France Football editor: "Rodri took votes away from Lamine"

France Football's editor says Rodri's votes split the Spanish contingent and cost Lamine Yamal the Ballon d'Or; Yamal finished third, Rodri fourth.

Vincent García, editor-in-chief of France Football, has analysed the Ballon d'Or voting and suggested that Rodri Hernández inadvertently cost Barcelona's Lamine Yamal the award by splitting the Spanish vote. Yamal finished third in the journalists' ballot while Rodri came fourth.

García explained that the division of votes among Spain's World Cup-winning contingent proved decisive. "I believe there was a distribution of votes between Rodri and Lamine Yamal on the Spanish team that won the World Cup," he said. "I think Rodri took votes away from Lamine Yamal in this voting. There was some dispersion of votes among the Spanish voters, and Spain stood out as a bloc. That's why it was difficult to single out one individual performance above the rest."

García also criticised Paris Saint-Germain's campaign strategy, suggesting the club failed to consolidate support behind one candidate. He argued PSG should have focused solely on promoting Ousmane Dembélé rather than splitting backing between Dembélé, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Fabián Ruiz.