Dembélé responds to Mbappé on Ballon d'Or: "I was never the chosen one but I worked hard"

Ousmane Dembélé delivered a veiled but clear response to Kylian Mbappé on the Ballon d’Or race, following PSG’s victory away at Brest (0-1).

Asked about his chances just over a month before the ceremony scheduled for October 26 in London, the Paris number 10 chose restraint. “I’ve always been at the back of the class working hard,” he said. “Throughout my entire career, I haven’t said a word, I’ve worked enormously. I was never the chosen one but I worked hard, and last year I was rewarded for a fantastic year with Paris-SG. This year, we’ll see, without pressure, relaxed.”

These words resonate directly with a recent statement from Mbappé in France Football. Asked about his former France teammate, the Real Madrid player drew a clear line: “He was always seen as a talented player. Me, I was always seen as the chosen one.” A few days earlier, the Real Madrid striker had already openly campaigned for himself, saying he had “made history this summer in the most prestigious competition in world sport” — referring to Euro 2024 — and claiming to have “the feeling that this might be the right year” to win the trophy.

Dembélé, meanwhile, prefers to step back. As the defending champion, he had recently refused to place himself on the podium, highlighting his teammate Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and judging that the award should go to a Paris player. “If I’m the one speaking, I don’t put myself in it, I don’t vote for myself,” he had said.

The Ballon d’Or race remains wide open five weeks before the London ceremony, with two former partners now embodying two radically opposed philosophies: the assumed discretion of the defending champion against the claimed ambition of the Madrid contender.