Someone who knows what it takes to win a Ballon d’Or is Cristiano Ronaldo – and the Portuguese talisman, ahead of facing Lamine Yamal in the UEFA Nations League final, has suggested that the teenage sensation does not deserve to win this year’s iteration of world football’s biggest individual prize.
Between 2008 and 2023, he and Lionel Messi (barring in 2017 and 2022 when Luka Modric and Karim Benzema respectively reigned supreme) shared a period of duopoly at the top of the beautiful game. In that time, Ronaldo obtained five Ballon d’Or.
And now that another domestic season has concluded, much of the post-season discussions – amid an interesting summer transfer window – has been focused on who will be winning the 2025 Ballon d’Or gong, which will be issued to the winner on September 22 at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris.
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The veteran forward snubbed Barca’s Yamal as leading contender
No longer at the peak of his powers, Ronaldo – one of the greatest footballers to ever live – is hoping to hit the 1,000-goal mark before hanging up his boots, but a player currently at the opposite end of his career is Barcelona and Spain hotshot, Yamal.
Perhaps, alongside another up-and-coming world-beater, the heir to Messi and Ronaldo’s dominance of world football, Yamal is yet to line up alongside the ex-Manchester United and Real Madrid legend – but Sunday’s Nations League showpiece changes that.
Ahead of locking horns, Ronaldo was asked about the 17-year-old phenom. Insisting that he has ‘no shortage of talent’, Ronaldo, whose future in Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr currently hangs in the balance, issued a warning to those that are hyping him up.
“Lamine Yamal is doing very well; he is taking full advantage of his talent," the 40-year-old, per Football Espana, said, "Now let the kid grow and don’t put too much pressure on him. Let him be and let him grow well, take the pressure off him. He has no shortage of talent.”
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The pair are set to face each other in the Nations League final on Sunday night.
On whether the La Masia graduate – admired as one of the best wingers in the world – could win the Ballon d’Or, Ronaldo agreed. Whether he should, however, was a completely different answer, as the veteran believes that football’s most coveted gong should be awarded to a Champions League winner from that year.
“The individual awards have lost some consensus; I can’t say anything about who should win. In my opinion, those who stand out and win the Champions League should win.”
Paris Saint-Germain, after thumping Inter Milan 5-0 in the Munich-based final, are the reigning champions of Europe – and Ronaldo believes that Ousmane Dembele, 28, and Vitinha, 25, would be his perfect picks for this year’s Ballon d’Or recipient.
“But there is no consensus. I don’t believe much in individual awards because I know what goes on behind the scenes. Lamine could win, like Dembele or Vitinha, other emerging players… but individual awards are irrelevant.”
Dembele and Vitinha were equally crucial to PSG’s first-ever triumph at Europe’s top table alongside their domestic exploits. The former, especially, chipped in with crucial goals while the latter was the string-puller of sorts. Without either, Luis Enrique’s side would be far less fruitful.