They are new. Nine PSG players to appear in the list of thirty nominees for the Ballon d'Or 2025, unveiled Thursday by France Football. Gianluigi Donnarumma, Achraf Hakimi, Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, Joao Neves, Fabien Ruiz, Désiré Doué, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and of course Ousmane Dembélé, considered one of the two great favorites with Lamine Yamal, all are among the candidates for the succession of Rodri. A record.
Who is therefore lacking in the call in the eleven type of Luis Enrique, who was selected for the Cruyff trophy for the best coach of the season? The two big forgotten in the ranks of Paris Saint-Germain are his central defenders, Captain Marquinhos and Willian Pacho. Two absences that challenge, necessarily. Why were the Brazilian and the Ecuadorian excluded by the members of the selection committee?
“It is not a sanctiondefends himself Vincent Garcia, the editor -in -chief of the monthly, in the podcast Big 5 of The team. The two players had less than half of the votes from the lists committee. Luis Figo, Fabio Capello and the Icelandic juror Vidir Sigurdsson chose more Marquinhos, where French journalists were more likely to choose Pacho. »» It was therefore very little for them to be invited to the party.
Marquinhos and Pacho, the big forgotten on the Ballon d'Or
For them, everything probably played at Metlife Stadium, on July 13 in New York, where the winners of the Champions League were cooled by Chelsea (0-3) in the final of the Club World Cup. “If PSG had won the final, it would have been difficult not to make a Strike”confirms the editorial manager of France Footballwhile on X (formerly Twitter), this choice is very commented and criticized.
“The facility would have been to put the eleven PSG players then nineteen other players. But if we are demanding, the Parisian hinge is not the first element we think when we imagine this team ”justifies Dave Appadoo, journalist for the magazine. Sport is often cruel, and it is all the more so when you evolve at a less exposed position. A blow to the ego that the two defenders will undoubtedly forget fairly quickly.
