Lamine Yamal’s father boldly claimed his son is the ‘best player in the world by far’ after watching Ousmane Dembele scoop the Ballon d’Or on Monday evening.
All of the talk heading into the glitzy award show was about who would win the coveted prize and, in-truth, it was between the young Barcelona star and PSG’s talesman.
They both enjoyed stellar seasons last term, Yamal bagging 18 goals and 25 assists as the Catalan giants triumphed in LaLiga while Dembele netted 35 and provided 16 assists in the Parisians’ treble campaign.
Ultimately the award went to Dembele, a player once reduced to an outcast at Barcelona, who has enjoyed an incredible renaissance since moving to Ligue 1.
Yamal meanwhile won the Kopa Trophy for Young Player of the Year in a turn of events dubbed ‘very strange’ by his father Mounir Nasraoui.
As he walked by Spanish media following the ceremony, Nasraoui confidently claimed ‘next year, he’ll be ours’ before speaking to reporters afterwards.
Lamine Yamal’s father Mounir Nasraoui (far left) has questioned Monday evening’s Ballon d’Or result
Ousmane Dembele won the award after a stellar season with PSG. Yamal finished runner-up
‘I wouldn’t say it was theft,’ he said, ‘but rather moral harm to a human being.
‘Because I believe Lamine Yamal is the best player in the world. By far, by far. Not because he’s my son, but because he’s the best player in the world. He has no rival. He’s Lamine Yamal.
‘Something very strange happened here. Next year, he’ll be the Spanish Ballon d’Or winner.’
Dembele nevertheless won the award ‘by a large margin’, according to the director of France Football magazine Vincent Garcia.
Along with L’Equipe, the publication plays a key part in the voting process for the Ballon d’Or.
Garcia revealed: ‘There was no match.
‘Ousmane won it by a wide margin. On all continents, Ousmane Dembele’s Ballon d’Or is clear and unambiguous. It is a Ballon d’Or that is authoritative for our judges.’
In stark contrast to his father, Yamal was gracious in defeat and offered Dembele a hug as the ceremony came to a close.
Yamal’s father described the result as ‘very strange’ while speaking to reporters afterwards
The Barcelona star was however gracious in defeat while accepting the Kopa Trophy for Young Player of the Year
The Spaniard, who is currently out of action for Barcelona with a knock, said after winning the Kopa Trophy: ‘I won’t forget my teammates, everyone that helped me get here tonight.
‘I’ll have to keep working to win other titles in the future.’
Elsewhere, nine of PSG’s squad from last season were nominated in the 30-man list for the award but the majority could not attend the event due to their rescheduled league game away at Marseille.
Dembele is currently injured so was able to attend the ceremony.
The initial fixture dubbed as ‘El Classique’ was postponed on Sunday due to storm warnings and Ligue 1 rules stipulate that matches suspended due to weather conditions must be played the following day, except in exceptional cases.
The Premier League’s best challenge came from Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (4th) after an impressive season where he won the PFA Men’s Player of the Year as Arne Slot’s side won the title.
Five British players were up for the honour with England’s Declan Rice (27th), Jude Bellingham (23rd), Cole Palmer (8th) and Harry Kane (13th) joined by Scotland’s Scott McTominay (18th) on the shortlist.
For the second year in a row, Real Madrid were absent from the event. They chose to miss last year’s ceremony, when forward Vinicius Junior was beaten to the award by Manchester City’s Rodri.
Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati, 27, won the Women’s Ballon d’Or for the third year in a row, ahead of Arsenal’s Mariona Caldentey, who came second and Alessia Russo in third.
Elsewhere, nine of PSG’s squad from last season were nominated in the 30-man list for the award
Following the Lionesses’ Euro success in the summer, five of the winning England squad were nominated for the women’s award with captain Leah Williamson, shoot-out hero Chloe Kelly, and Russo among seven Arsenal nominees after they won the Women’s Champions League.
All of them finished in the top ten alongside Lucy Bronze of Barcelona and Hannah Hampton of Chelsea. Hampton was named women’s goalkeeper of the year with Gianluigi Donnarumma taking the men’s prize.
Sarina Wiegman, the Lionesses head coach, won the Johan Cruyff Trophy awarded to the best coach in the women’s game.
‘What an honour to win this award after a very special summer,’ said Wiegman, who was jokingly asked by Ruud Gullit on stage to ‘Please come back to Holland.’
Enrique won the award for the best men’s coach, beating the likes of Arne Slot, Antonio Conte, Enzo Maresca and Hansi Flick.
