Barcelona star Lamine Yamal is happy to bill Spain’s UEFA Nations League semifinal against France as a Ballon d’Or decider between him and Ousmane Dembélé if that’s what people want.
Yamal, 17, is in the running to win the coveted individual award after an outstanding season, as is teammate Raphinha, but Dembelé may have moved ahead of them both after helping Paris Saint-Germain win the Champions League last weekend.
“Who do you vote for: the best player this season or whoever wins the game on Thursday?” Yamal told Cope when asked about the competition between him and Dembelé to win the Ballon d’Or.
“For me, it’s the best player across the whole year, but everyone sees it their own way. I am confident we will win Thursday, but whether we win or not, I would vote for the best player over the whole year.
“If on Thursday it doesn’t go as me or Dembelé want, then who do you vote for? Someone playing on Sunday [in the final]? For me, it’s based on the whole year, but if people want to put it all on Thursday, then let’s play.”
Yamal, who scored 18 goals and set up 25 more in 55 appearances as Barça won a domestic treble this season, would not reveal where his vote would go, although he did say he thought Raphinha had been the best forward in the Champions League.
He also insisted winning the Ballon d’Or is not a major objective for him, pointing out that Champions League and World Cup glory with Barça and Spain respectively is his aim in 2026.
“At the end of the day, I don’t think about the [Ballon d’Or] or if I will win it because I believe it will go badly if you think you need to win the Ballon d’Or or that you have to win the Ballon d’Or,” he added.
“I think about playing, winning … and it will come. At the end of the day, if next year I win the Champions League and the World Cup, it will come. It’s about enjoying yourself and it will arrive when it has to arrive.”
Holders Spain meet France in Stuttgart on Thursday with the winners then facing either Portugal or Germany in the final on Sunday. The game is a rematch of the European Championship semifinal from last summer, when Yamal, who signed a new Barça deal last week, was on target as Spain beat France 2-1 on their way to winning the competition.
France midfielder Adrien Rabiot had questioned Yamal ahead of that game, with the Barça winger using that as an example to explain how he likes to use criticism to motivate himself before games.
Editor’s Picks
2 Related
“To be honest, I am not aware of everything that’s said about me, but a lot of stuff reaches me,” he said. “I might not be looking at my phone, but a friend phones me and tells me this or that, so I find out through them. They send me a lot of stuff from TikTok, good things; bad things sometimes from my two closest friends because they know it motivates me, more than anything before a game.
“They send me stuff 20 minutes before a game to motivate me. They know I’m not nervous before a match. An example, against France, I was sleeping on the bus, I woke up and my friend phones me and says, ‘Remember what [Rabiot] said about you.’ I respond ‘Yes, yes, of course I remember, don’t worry.’
“The game starts, they score, I look to the stands and my friend does a gesture to say ‘Remember.’ It gets me going and I get into that zone of not stopping running and all that. And that’s how it motivates me.”
Yamal’s teammate for club and country, Pau Cubarsí, also highlighted the risk opposition players face if they wind the teenager up.
“He’s a magnificent player,” the defender told Marca.
“What he’s doing aged 17 at the toughest grounds in Europe is amazing. It’s as if he is 30 years old. “Lamine likes to shut mouths. If you mess with him, you just make him even more determined. And then he goes on to resolve games and ties.”
