La Liga president Tebas names surprise Real Madrid star as Lamine Yamal’s main competition for Ballon d’Or | OneFootball

La Liga president Javier Tebas has turned heads courtesy of a round of quotes regarding the next Ballon d’Or award on Friday.

This comes with the Spaniard of the opinion that a member of the attacking ranks at Real Madrid should be considered Barcelona sensation Lamine Yamal’s main competitor for the prize.

The subject of the Ballon d’Or has of course returned to the forefront of the headlines across Europe over the last 24 hours.

This comes after the two leading contenders to be named world football’s best locked horns on the international front.

And when all was said and done, it was Lamine Yamal and Spain who had the last laugh in a 5-4 Nations League victory over Ousmane Dembélé’s France.

Speaking during an appearance in front of the press on Friday, it therefore came as little surprise when the race for the ‘Golden Ball’ was put to the aforementioned Javier Tebas.

And La Liga’s president went on to reveal his take that the two frontrunners should be Lamine, and Real Madrid counterpart Vinícius Jr:

“It should go between Lamine Yamal and Vinícius.”

Pressed on the reasoning behind his surprise call for the latter to be taken into consideration, Tebas continued:

“He hasn’t had a super season, but he do very well at the beginning. I think the Ballon d’Or is a season’s worth of achievement. He still has a few international matches and the Club World Cup to go before the season ends, but I would highlight those two from La Liga players. Watching the Spanish national team against France, there are so many Spanish players, and that’s extraordinary.”

Quotes via COPE

Conor Laird – GSFN