Lamine Yamal sends Ballon d’Or message to Ousmane Dembélé as Spain best France in 9-goal thriller | OneFootball

The ‘Ballon d’Or battle’ between Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Dembélé on Thursday night had an altogether clear winner…

This came as the former played a starring role in Spain, just, besting their French counterparts in the semi-finals of the Nations League.

After Portugal put Germany to the sword in the competition’s first semi-final last night, another two of European football’s finest locked horns in Stuttgart.

And when all was said and done, it was Luis de la Fuente’s France who emerged on the right side of a 5-4 result.

The aforementioned Lamine, for his part, featured from the off in the clash, and lit up the evening, courtesy of a series of trademark touches and dribbles from his berth on the right flank.

His finished product was not at all lacking either, as the 17-year-old notched a brace, including the first converted penalty of his fledgling career.

All the while, Ousmane Dembélé, considered Lamine’s main competition for the Ballon d’Or, endured a frustrating outing, seeing a number of presentable goalscoring opportunities kept out, as well as striking the post.

Viewers, in particular those of a Barcelona persuasion, have in turn since made clear their collective feelings that it is the former who should now be considered the favourite to lift the coveted ‘Golden Ball’.

Conor Laird – GSFN