Ousmane Dembele sends message to Lamine Yamal after Ballon d’Or triumph – “An exceptional young man” | OneFootball

Ousmane Dembele defeated Lamine Yamal and Vitinha to become the first Frenchman to win the Ballon d’Or since Karim Benzema in 2022.

In his Ballon d’Or speech, the Frenchman even addressed Benzema, labelling him as the first ‘people’s Ballon d’Or winner’, with him being the second.

Nevertheless, the final standing of the Ballon d’Or ranking saw Yamal finishing second to Dembele, with Vitinha occupying third position.

Raphinha finished fifth in the rankings, behind Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah.

Dembele’s message to Yamal

During his Ballon d’Or address, Dembele also talked about Lamine Yamal, praising the Barcelona winger and backing him to win several Ballon d’Ors.

“Lamine Yamal is an exceptional young man. A wonderful player with great maturity. I believe he will win several Ballon d’Or awards,” said the Frenchman (h/t FCB World).

The two even greeted each other during the Ballon d’Or gala in Paris, showcasing great bonhomie, which is unlike anything that happened last year between Vinicius and Rodri.

Yamal, meanwhile, didn’t leave the ceremony empty-handed, as he became the first player to win the Kopa Trophy twice.

Barcelona players, in fact, did extremely well in the Ballon d’Or ranking, although there was much disappointment over Raphinha’s fifth-place finish and Pedri being left out of the top ten.

Even Aitana Bonmati raised objections over Pedri’s position, stating that the Barcelona midfielder deserved more recognition.

Robert Lewandowski was the fourth Barcelona player in the Ballon d’Or gala last night, finishing in 17th spot, in what could be his last appearance at this gala.

Barcelona, for their part, will hope to have more players representing the club in the next edition of the Ballon d’Or. It will be particularly interesting to see whether Dembele and Yamal can battle it out once more next year.