Ballon d’Or 2024 live updates: Rodri most likely to be the winner in Vinicius’ absence – and no Lionel Messi this year

Consider the generation of players born in the 1990s who missed out on football’s greatest individual prize thanks to Messrs Ronaldo and Messi.

Unless Rodri subsequently wins the award, there will be no winner of the Ballon d’Or born in the 1990s.

I’m thinking that your Neymar, your Gareth Bales, your Virgil van Dijk – all of them, and a multitude of others, didn’t get a chance.

last month, athleticOliver Kay writes brilliantly about that lost generation with very poignant reference to those in the tennis world who suffered similar fates at the hands of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic – be sure to check it out below. Do it.