Dembele steps up to the top, Vinicius and Real Madrid hold resentment

Ousmane Dembele became the owner of the 2025 Golden Ball - a result that did not cause much controversy when he outperformed Lamine Yamal in the Champions League. However, in that picture, Vinicius Jr has every reason to feel unfairly left out of the glory.

Dembele won the 2025 Ballon d'Or.

Dembele became the second PSG player to win the Ballon d'Or, after Lionel Messi four years ago. However, Messi's victory was due to his performances while at Barca. Dembele, on the other hand, was entirely based on his achievements with PSG, including the Champions League title.

Champions League is Dembele's launching pad

Meanwhile, Lamine Yamal of Barcelona only finished second, while third place belonged to Vitinha, another player of PSG. This may make many Spanish fans and especially Barcelona fans feel surprised and bitter because before that, many Barcelona newspapers insisted that Yamal would win the Golden Ball thanks to exploiting "secret" sources.

From then on, it was felt that Yamal had missed out just like Vinicius Jr a year before. At that time, Marca also widely reported that Real Madrid's No. 7 was certain to become the new Ballon d'Or winner, even putting his photo on the cover. As a result, before going to receive the award, Real Madrid were shocked to learn that Rodri had surpassed their player, leading to a collective and prolonged boycott.

However, here we see that the story of Vinicius and Yamal is not the same but there are more similarities between Vinicius and Dembele.

Vinicius Jr., Real Madrid's 2023/24 player, and Dembele, PSG's 2024/25 player, have some striking parallels. Both are key players, directly contributing to the journey to win the double of major titles: Champions League and national championship.

Vinicius last year had the right to be angry when watching the results of this year's Ballon d'Or award.

Vinicius shone in key moments, especially in Europe, where he, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo formed a trio that helped Real Madrid win the Champions League for the 15th time. A year later, Dembele did the same at PSG, turning the Parisian capital team into a dominant force in both Ligue 1 and the Champions League.

Even if comparing Vinicius and Dembele, Vinicius' contribution is more valuable when he plays in the more fierce La Liga, facing difficult opponents like Barcelona or Atletico Madrid while Dembele and PSG play like a walk in PSG.

Another common point is that both have not really succeeded on the national team level. Vinicius's Brazil stopped early at Copa America 2024, while Dembele's France did not meet expectations in UEFA Nations League 2025. However, the paradox lies in the fact that international achievements are not enough to prevent Dembele from winning the Golden Ball in 2025, while in the same situation, Vinicius did not get the same recognition in 2024.

Looking back at last year's race

The story becomes more confusing when compared to Rodri and Lamine Yamal. In the 2023/24 season, Rodri led Manchester City to the Premier League title but lost the Champions League to Vinicius' Real Madrid. Last season, Yamal shone brightly, helping Barcelona win La Liga but also stopped in the Champions League semi-finals.

What they have in common is success with the Spanish national team. Rodri was a key player in winning Euro 2024, while Yamal took "La Roja" to the final of the Nations League 2025. Thanks to that, both are highly rated in the race for the Golden Ball.

Comparing Rodri and Yamal is more difficult because they play two different roles, but Yamal stands out more than his senior through goals. The only difference is that Rodri, despite being a subdued player (like Pedri at Barcelona), won the 2024 Ballon d'Or while Yamal finished second in 2025.

Rodri was lucky not to have French opposition as Dembele shone last year

From the issue of “criteria” between the 2024 and 2025 Ballon d’Or awards, the first two awards that UEFA participated in the voting process, the injustice towards Vinicius was clearly shown. Vinicius achieved a double of major titles with Real - a much better achievement, but was ranked below Rodri only because of the team factor. Meanwhile, in 2025, that standard suddenly changed, and Dembele was honored despite the scenario being exactly the same as Vinicius a year ago.

We can also see that the 2025 Ballon d'Or's measure favors the Champions League champion through the awarding of subsidiary prizes. The evening of September 22 was also a big victory for PSG when they received the "Best Men's Team" award and coach Luis Enrique was awarded the "Best Men's Coach" award. It is exactly like UEFA and France Football gave the collective award to Real Madrid and coach Carlo Ancelotti last year.

However, in the main award, the Men's Golden Ball, the organizers "changed the rules" regarding the criteria in 2024 and then returned to the official criteria in 2025. Perhaps the organizers realized they made a mistake last year so they corrected it this year to avoid criticism.

A prestigious award with criteria that are as unfair as rice paper is clear as day and Real Madrid has the right to be angry.

Source: https://znews.vn/dembele-buoc-len-dinh-vinicius-va-real-madrid-om-noi-am-uc-post1587485.html