The fearless teenager fully deserves Golden Ball recognition after a magnificent campaign for Hansi Flick's swashbuckling team
If the voting process for the Ballon d'Or were truly fair, Lionel Messi would have 14 Golden Balls to his name instead of eight. The Barcelona legend was by far the best footballer in the world between 2008 and 2021, but had to concede defeat to Cristiano Ronaldo five times, and Luke Modric once, as the Real Madrid duo were rewarded for spearheading their team's unprecedented success in the Champions League.
The generational rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo divided fans, with very little to separate the two superstars in terms of goal output, but there was always a huge gulf in quality. The truth is, Messi never had any equal. Even after being forced to leave Barcelona, the place he'd called home for 21 years, the diminutive maestro was able to claim a final Ballon d'Or after almost single-handedly inspiring Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar.
Karim Benzema is the only player who can honestly claim to have beaten Messi to the award while eclipsing him on individual performance, having enjoyed a stellar 2021-22 season for Madrid while the Argentine struggled to settle in his first year at Paris Saint-Germain. For the most part, the system failed Messi, and there is now a chance that it will also fail Lamine Yamal on September 22.
Barcelona's latest jewel, who has just inherited Messi's iconic No.10 jersey, will - if the betting odds are to be believed - have to watch Ousmane Dembele lift the Golden Ball in Paris on that day. The France winger is the overwhelming favourite for the 2025 prize ahead of the nominations being announced on Thursday after leading PSG to the treble, but Dembele wasn't better than Yamal last season. Like Messi before him, the 18-year-old is the purists' champion, and in an ideal world, he'd be automatically vaulted to the top of the podium.