Ballon d’Or race heats up as Dembélé fires back at former PSG teammate Kylian Mbappé

The Ballon D’or ceremony is still a month away, being set to take place on Monday, October 26th, but it has been an unusually heated build up to the event that sees 10 PSG players selected in the top 30, with front runners Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid) and Ousmane Dembélé of PSG all being involved in interviews in which a certain tension seems to exist between the three players.

Ousmane Dembélé fires back at Kylian Mbappé

This disagreement seems to have kicked off when the Real Madrid camp, spearheaded by newly re-appointed head coach José Mourinho and his star player (and Ballon D’or contender) Kylian Mbappé, both of whom stated in press conferences that they expected one of Madrid’s stars to win the trophy. The France national team captain announced that he had always been perceived as l’élu (the Chosen one, in French), within this generation of French talent, despite Dembélé having been the first of the generation to win a Ballon D’or.

Mbappé’s statements come after a season in which, regardless of an excellent individual campaign in terms of numbers, he has failed to deliver any team success for either his national side or for his club team Real Madrid. France crashed out of the World Cup at the Semi-Final stage (a defeat in which Dembélé was also involved, of course) and Real Madrid went trophyless for the second season in a row since Mbappé’s arrival, while his old side PSG went on to win their second consecutive Champions League, spearheaded by Dembélé.

Mbappé’s words seem to have displeased his former teammate, who said after Sunday’s narrow win away at Brest that ‘I have always been at the back of the class, working hard. In my whole career, I haven’t said a word. I have worked a lot. As I said, I was never the chosen one, but I worked and, last year, I was rewarded for a fantastic year with PSG, and this year, we will see, without pressure, calm.’ These words are perhaps uncharacteristic of Dembélé, whose normal press conferences are usually extremely calm, lowkey, and marked by his characteristic humour and even self-deprecation. Indeed, while Dembélé is not the front runner for this year’s individual prize, his excellent Champions League campaign last season will certainly see him appear among the contenders, along with a few PSG teammates.

In the midst of this apparent discord between two of France’s key players (who will be reunited under new national team manager Zinédine Zidane next week) Lamine Yamal has also stepped in, implying that the two Frenchmen are agreeing between them to not mention him as a potential frontrunner for the award. Yamal has had a fiery relationship with Mbappé before, and this seems to be the most explicit discord yet between the two stars.

In the midst of all this drama, Bayern Munich and England striker Harry Kane remains the front runner for the award, having scored 50 goals across League and Champions league, and having had a fine World Cup too. It’s possible that the drama will continue as the Ballon D’Or ceremony draws ever closer, so keep an eye out for any further updates.

Add us as a preferred source on Google