logo
Wed 01 December 2021 | 19:28

Ballon d’Or organizers criticized for forgetting to honor Paolo Rossi

Italian media outlets have criticized the 2021 Ballon d’Or ceremony organizers after they paid a fitting tribute to Diego Maradona and Gerd Muller, But not to Italy World Cup winner Paolo Rossi.

As part of the France Football event in Paris, which saw

Lionel Messi

win the award again, there was also an In Memoriam part dedicated to the football legends who passed away over the last year.

Following the Kopa Award which was given to

Barcelona

midfielder

Pedri

as the greatest under 21 player of the year, the event program centered on the memories of

Diego Maradona

and

Gerd Muller

.

They both deserved to be recognized. And France Football did it with a great service, accompanied not only by old pictures of their accomplishments, but also by the words of the evening's two protagonists Lionel Messi and

Robert Lewandowski

.

However, they forgot to show the same respect to

Rossi

, who won the Ballon d'Or in 1982 after leading Italy to World Cup glory.

It aroused a few questions in the Italian press, which France Football chief

Pascal Ferré

quickly dismissed.

“We don’t want to get into this sort of controversy, anything I say would be twisted. We cannot read every aspect of the ceremony in a controversial way,”

Ferré

told

La Gazzetta dello Sport

.

“If needs be, I will speak directly to the family of Paolo Rossi.”

Rossi died in December 2020 at the age of 64 after a long illness.

Pablito Rossi won the European Cup, the UEFA Supercup, and the Cup Winners' Cup with Juventus, in addition to his two Serie A victories.


source: SportMob



DISCLAIMER! Sportmob does not claim ownership of any of the pictures posted on this website. Again, we do not host pictures or videos ourselves. Our authors merely link to the rightful owner. Lastly, Sportmob have carefully considered and reviewed all of its content. Despite that, it is possible that some information might be out-dated or incomplete.