Monday saw one of the biggest events of the football calendar take place, the Ballon d'Or award ceremony.
Hosted in Paris, the Ballon d'Or is awarded to the best men's player from the previous season with journalists from FIFA's top 100-ranked nations given a vote.
This year's award saw Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri receive the accolade for the first time after a 2023/24 season which saw him win three trophies with City and a European championship with his national side.
However, this moment was overshadowed by the behaviour of Real Madrid who decided to not send manager Carlo Ancelotti, who won the Coach of the Year award, and star forward Vinicus Junior to the ceremony when it became apparent that the Brazilian would not be lifting the prestigious prize.
This move has been criticised by numerous figures in football including former France manager Raymond Domenech who did not hold back.
"Real is said, and Real itself wants to be said, that it is a big club. Meanwhile, it turned out that it is a small club. Very small! What Real did is absolutely pathetic," Domenech told goal.pl.
"They showed a lack of respect for football, for the other participants in the gala, for the winners. It is something downright repulsive.
"How is it possible that they demanded information about who would win when the results were still secret, hidden?
"To pressure the organisers to either tell us that ours won or we won't come? That is something incredible! Especially since no one harassed them in these elections.
"Real was voted the best men's team of the year, Kylian Mbappe was the top scorer with Kane, Carlo Ancelotti the coach... But no, it wasn't enough for them, they demanded the certainty that Vinicius had won."
"Horrible, I repeat horrible behaviour from a club that calls itself great. Someone summed them up well when he said something like: "Real doesn't start a match until it knows what the result will be".
"They need to understand that the whole world of football doesn't revolve around them. Real has a white shirt, but yesterday in my opinion that shirt was badly stained."
Vinicius Junior came second in the voting, while his Madrid teammates Jude Bellingham and Dani Carvajal finished third and fourth respectively.
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