Spain beat Argentina in the 2026 World Cup final, and Rodri walked away with FIFA’s Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player. But plenty of voices throughout the competition argued that honor should have gone to a 39-year-old Lionel Messi instead, and now even Lamine Yamal, from the winning side, has thrown his support behind that idea.
The Argentine’s brilliance came up as one of the central topics when Yamal sat down with Jorge Valdano for an extensive interview on Universo Valdano, which also touched on the Ballon d’Or race and his own performance at the World Cup.
“For me, he was the best player of the World Cup for everything he is and everything he generated. Nobody expected that a player at Leo’s age, even if it was Leo, could do things at that level,” Yamal said.
The numbers back up that admiration. At 39 years old, Messi scored eight goals across the tournament, including two assists in Argentina’s dramatic comeback win over England in the semifinal, and carried his team all the way to the final.
Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal embrace after the World Cup 2026 Final. (Getty Images)
Yamal never directly criticized Rodri or FIFA’s decision, but by singling out Messi as the tournament’s true best performer, he left little doubt about who he believed actually deserved the recognition, regardless of which trophy his own national team ended up lifting.
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Yamal admits he wasn’t satisfied with his own World Cup
Beyond his praise for Messi, Yamal turned surprisingly self-critical when reflecting on his own tournament, even though his contribution helped Spain lift the trophy in extra time.
“I didn’t come out happy after winning the World Cup. The injury thing is true, but it has nothing to do with it. If the World Cup happened again at another point, I’d feel the same way, even without the injury,” he told Valdano.
He went further, breaking down exactly what left him unsatisfied: “I did a lot of things people didn’t see. For the coach, it’s incredible to have a player who drags three defenders with him, but based on my performance, I know I could have done more”.
It’s a level of self-demand that stands out even for a teenager who just won the World Cup, and it helps explain why Yamal continues to push himself toward the Ballon d’Or conversation rather than settling for the trophy already in hand. If this is the standard he holds himself to after arguably one of the best seasons of his young career, there’s little reason to think he’s anywhere close to a ceiling.
