When Lamine Yamal talks about what the Ballon d’Or should reward, two names keep coming up: Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho. In an extensive interview with L’Équipe, the Barcelona forward pointed to both as the kind of players the award was really made for, arguing that his own style of play, more than stats or trophies, is his strongest case for the honor.
Asked directly about his view of the sport’s most prestigious individual award, Yamal made clear he doesn’t think it should be tied to goal totals. “The Ballon d’Or, as you say, is the trophy that rewards the best player of the year, the exceptional player, the one you enjoy watching so much that you’d watch a match just for him… It has nothing to do with how many goals he scores or anything like that. When I think about the Ballon d’Or, I think of Messi, Ronaldinho, players like them, who are different and who make you smile when you watch them play,” he said.
That answer speaks to a broader point Yamal has made about his own game. Rather than leaning on numbers to justify his standing among the sport’s elite, he prefers to let his style speak for itself, the same quality he associates with the players he considers Ballon d’Or-worthy.
“I think every football fan knows my strengths. I go out on the field, I enjoy myself, I play well, and I play my way. Luckily, I’ve also been able to win a lot of titles with Barça, and on top of that I won the most important title, the World Cup, with my national team. But beyond that, I think my style of play is my greatest strength; it’s what makes me different,” Yamal added, tying his own game back to the same philosophy.
Kane and Mbappe, Yamal’s biggest rivals in the goals department
If style is Yamal’s calling card, sheer goal output is what separates his two most likely competitors for the award. Harry Kane enters this Ballon d’Or cycle off a historic run, having scored 73 goals last season, the second-most prolific single season by any player this century, trailing only Messi’s 82-goal haul from 2011-12 and surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo’s previous record of 69.
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That tally was enough to earn Kane his second career European Golden Shoe, on top of a World Cup in which he broke Gary Lineker’s record to become England’s all-time leading scorer at the tournament, finishing joint-fifth on the competition’s all-time scoring list.
Kylian Mbappe’s case is built on a similarly relentless scoring pace. The Frenchman led the 2026 World Cup with 14 goal involvements, edging out Messi for the tournament’s top spot, and in the process became the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history with 22 career goals. He’s carried that form into the new season, already sitting on seven goals in LaLiga through Real Madrid’s first seven matches.
Between Kane’s Golden Shoe-winning volume and Mbappe’s World Cup-topping tally, Yamal’s argument that style should outweigh stats faces its toughest test against two players who have plenty of both.
