“Obviously, he thinks about it. When you also tell yourself that you are in the final (of the C1), that there is the World Cup afterwards, you think about it (at the Ballon d’Or, Editor’s note). Ousmane has had a new mentality since last year. He wants to score, he has become even more conscientious. And he measured the extent to which accolades had an impact on popularity, with enormous recognition. He knows that it depends on the World Cup and a victory in the C1 final. But he wants to”. These were the words of a member of Dembouz’s entourage in an article recently published by the daily The Team.
Already winner of the 2025 Ballon d’Or, the French international would like to sign a back-to-back that very few players have managed to do before him, and wishes to become the eighth player to achieve this performance, after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, among others. Michel Platini is the only Frenchman who has achieved this, with three Ballon d’Ors won in a row (1983, 1984, 1985). And on Saturday evening, during the Champions League final against Arsenal, he scored points again. However, Dembouz clearly did not have his best match…
Already the big favorite?
For example, he received a 6/10 in our notes from the meeting. A note which confirms that he was not bad, obviously, but that the Frenchman still had difficulty creating danger throughout the match, well neutralized for a good part of the match by the London defensive animation. He still scored the equalizing goal from the penalty spot, and gained a little importance in the game afterwards, before leaving the pitch at the very end of stoppage time in regulation time, the fault of cramps. If he did not necessarily deliver an exceptional performance on Saturday evening, he also has solid arguments in his favor.
He thus had a great European campaign, being excellent in the double quarter and half confrontations against Liverpool (2 goals) and Bayern Munich (3 goals and 1 assist). In total, he finished this Champions League with 8 goals and 2 assists in 13 matches, and inevitably, his status as star of the reigning European champion team is a strong argument for the most important individual distinction. Everything will obviously also depend on what happens on American soil under the tricolor tunic, and we know that in a World Cup year, there is a strong possibility that the winner will be one of the major players of the world crowned team. Which will cost Khvicha Kvaratskhelia dearly for example, who could have had chances. See you this summer…
