Ousmane Dembele was full of praise for his former Barcelona teammate Lamine Yamal although reluctantly expanded on his ambitions to win this year’s Ballon d’Or.
The Paris Saint-Germain starlet has enjoyed a transformative campaign. As the roaming fulcrum of Luis Enrique’s European champions, Dembélé racked up a staggering haul of 33 goals across all competitions, comfortably the most prolific campaign of his career and more than he managed across the previous five years combined.
This individual success coupled with PSG’s collective domination of France and the rest of the continent has prompted many to consider Dembélé to be the favorite for this year’s Ballon d’Or, the annual accolade dished out to the best soccer player on the planet.
Enrique naturally backed his star player to win an award which is also being eyed up by Barcelona’s teenage starlet, Lamine Yamal. Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappé both suggested Dembélé, as a Champions League winner, would be a more worthy winner.
During an extensive interview with France Football, the magazine which conducts the poll of journalists to decide each year’s Ballon d’Or winner, Dembélé had to have his declaration of intent teased out of him.
Dembélé has first-hand experience of Yamal’s unique talents. The pair overlapped together at Barcelona just as the young Spaniard was breaking into the first team. “Everyone was already talking about Lamine Yamal from a young age at Barcelona,” Dembélé recalled. “When he arrived at the professional level, we understood he was exceptional, and he took on another dimension. In training, he dribbled, he shot, he scored too.”
Yamal finished the season with 18 goals, 21 assists and a domestic treble, dazzling opponents with a bewitching array of body swerves and jinking darts which belied his juvenile status.
The 17-year-old appears to be typically unfazed when it comes to this year’s Ballon d’Or while his French counterpart didn’t play it quite so cool. “These are difficult things to say,” Dembélé squirmed under further questioning about soccer’s most prestigious individual prize.
“But winning a Ballon d’Or when you’re a soccer player is obviously the Holy Grail individually. It’s something you dream about when you’re little. I remember back when it was on Téléfoot, watching the players line up to receive the Ballon d’Or; it was incredible. The object alone, the ball, is exceptional.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘Another Dimension’—Ousmane Dembele Addresses Ballon d’Or Battle With Lamine Yamal.
