FC Barcelona legend Rivaldo gave advice to his compatriot Vinicius after the Real Madrid star missed out on the Ballon d'Or, in comments picked up by Mundo Deportivo.

Vinicius was widely expected to win the prestigious France Football accolade for the world's best male soccer player, which Rivaldo himself lifted in 1999 while starring for the Blaugrana.

On the day of the Ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris, however, it emerged that Vinicius would miss out on the sport's highest individual honor which was instead handed to Manchester City's Rodri.

Vinicius vowed to perform "10 times" better moving forward, and fellow Brazilian Rivaldo urged him to "get this Ballon d'Or story out of his head, start playing again and start playing well for Real Madrid, who have to win games after the two consecutive defeats".

"Vinicius is young, he has the age and the football to reverse all this. Someday he will win the Ballon d'Or. He can be the best in the world one or more times," Rivaldo predicted, before taking a dig at the panel that decided the Ballon d'Or winer which is mostly made up on journalists.

"Do all the journalists who vote really understand football? Are everyone, absolutely everyone, really qualified people?," Rivaldo asked.

That being said, Rivaldo paid Rodri his dues and admitted he can't "underestimate" the Euro 2024 champion.

"I can't underestimate Rodri. He's a player I like. For me he was my second candidate. And yes, although I think Vinicius deserved the Ballon d'Or more, I can't take away any merit from the award, because I really admire Rodri. His way of playing and his style. I like it," Rivaldo stressed.

As Madrid goes through a bit of a crisis induced by back-to-back defeats to Barca and AC Milan, Rivaldo didn't join the throng of voices criticizing manager Carlo Ancelotti for underusing another countryman in Endrick, who hasn't picked up a minute of play in his team's last five fixtures while being frozen out alongside another prodigy in Arda Guler.

"It's normal for Ancelotti to protect Endrick. He is an intelligent coach, and he will know how to give him the right moment to have more minutes. Now the situation is complicated and Ancelotti is managing it wisely," Rivaldo said.

"There is a long way to go. Their participation will be required at a later date. We have to be calm. The same thing is happening with Rodrygo. Be calm and work, and sooner or later he will use all these players who are not getting minutes," Rivaldo concluded on this.