AL HILAL, BY EX-FLAMENGO MICHAEL AND JORGE JESUS, DEFEATS AL NASSR AND LEADS CRISTIANO RONALDO TO CRYING; CHECK OUT VIDEO

France Football made public this Saturday (9) the details of the votes of the 99 jurors who participated in choosing the winner of the 2023 Ballon d'Or. award ceremony, held on October 28th, was marked by controversy, especially due to Rodri's victory over Vini Jr., ex-Flamengo, considered favorite by many analysts and fans of world football .

Three countries drew attention when they left the Brazilian Real Madridout of the top 10. The journalist from El Salvador, for example, claimed that his choice was based on fair play criteria and stated that he does not see Vini Jr. as "decisive" in the game. In Finland, the representative voted for Rodri as first place, followed by Haaland and Bellingham. In Namibia, Bellingham, Rodri and Yamal led the choices.

VINI JR. OUTSIDE THE TOP 3 IN 17 COUNTRIES

The difference of 41 points between Rodri and Vini Jr. was considered significant by France Football itself, even though it is not the smallest margin ever recorded in the history of the award. The scoring format awards 15 points to the athlete chosen as the best in the world, with decreasing scores for the other positions.

Beyond the three countries that left the Brazilian out of the top 10, Vini Jr. was also excluded from the top 3 in 17 nations, including Belarus, Croatia, Gabon, Ireland, Ukraine and Bulgaria, where he came in fourth place. Other countries, such as Chile, Costa Rica, Georgia, Slovenia and Portugal, ranked it in fifth position. In countries like Iraq and Honduras, the Brazilian team's striker was voted sixth and seventh, respectively. Albania, South Korea, Uganda and the Czech Republic placed the player in eighth and ninth place.

THE CONTROVERSY CONTINUES

The revelation of the votes brought up discussions about the evaluation criteria used by the jurors, especially with regard to the relevance of criteria such as fair play and impact on the game. The fact that Vini Jr., one of the main highlights of Real Madrid and the Brazilian team, was left out of the top 3 in several votes reflects the subjective nature of the award.

This Wednesday (6), Sauber, a Swiss team that competes in Formula 1, announced the hiring of Brazilian driver Gabriel Bortoleto for 2025. Thus, the 20-year-old completes the grid for next season, representing Brazil after seven years without any Brazilian competing in the category, since the retirement of Felipe Massa.

Bortoleto began to be speculated to be Sauber's second seat for the 2025 F1 season in July . Furthermore, speculation gained more strength in the days following this year's São Paulo GP. The young man takes over from Valtteri Bottas and will form the Swiss team's duo alongside Nico Hulkenberg, who will leave Haas for the Swiss team next year.

Gabriel Bortoleto is leader of the current Formula 2 championship, and Formula 3 champion in 2023, having 30 super license points (document required to drive in the category) and, even if he doesn't take the F2 title this year, he would get the ten remaining just for finishing the season, at least, in sixth place.

BARTOLETO BECOMES 32nd BRAZILIAN TO TAKE THE CATEGORY

Gabriel is from São Paulo and will become the 32nd Brazilian driver to pass the category, the first since Pietro Fittipaldi, who will replace Romain Grosjean in the Sakhir and Abu Dhabi GPs, and the first since Felipe Massa, in 2017.

FLAMENGO WELL REPRESENTED

In addition to being a great highlight on the race tracks, < b>Gabriel Bortoletois a declared red-black. The young man supports Flamengoand has already posed with the Sacred Mantle and the trophy he won in F2 in Italy, after winning the main race at the Monza stage that year.

On the afternoon of this past Monday (4), Neymar played just over 30 minutes in the match between Al- Hilal and Esteghlal in the Asian Champions League. This is because the player suffered an injury to the back of his right thigh and needed to be replaced during the match. After the game, the attacker described the pain he felt and said that he is undergoing tests to investigate what happened.

"I felt as if it was the pain of a cramp, but very strong. I'll do tests and I hope it's nothing big... It's normal for this to happen after a year. The doctors had already warned me. to play", explained the number 10.

In total, Neymar spent 28 minutes on the field, as he entered in the 13th minute of the second half and stayed until the 41st minute. In the broadcast videos, it is possible to see the foul that the attacker suffered. He was hit by Hossein Zamani and tried to recover, but was taken off the field.

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After the confrontation, Jorge Jesus spoke about Neymar: "He returned to participate in matches a year after the injury. I believe that Neymar's muscle injury should require two weeks. This is the minimum period we will see after the medical examination."