Lamine Yamal vs Ousmane Dembélé: Does the Nations League define the Ballon d'Or?

Spain and France re-edit this Thursday the semifinal of the past Eurocup again in Germany, this time to decide the second finalist of the UEFA Nations League. Portugal awaits a rival after surprising Germany (1-2), but the duel between the Selección and the Gauls, without a doubt, has a one-on-one that captures the attention of the world press.

Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Dembélé are called to lead the offensive of both teams, in a one-on-one duel that can be key to define the winner of the Ballon d'Or 2025.

The 'Mosquito' has gained integers on the way to the award after lifting the Champions League with PSG, while the youth of FC Barcelona completed a brilliant end of the season that, for many, makes him the best player in the world today.

With the memory of his great goal almost a year ago, in Munich for the 'semis' of the Euro, France knows very well the danger represented by the one from Mataró. La Roja, for its part, must also take care of 'Dembouz' and Kylian Mbappé, the main offensive weapons of Didier Deschamps' team.

Lamine Yamal meets France again in a continental semifinal

Adrien Rabiot and Lamine Yamal in the match between France and Spain in Euro 2024

For the '19' culé, the duel against France means re-editing the 'semi' of the past Eurocup, where he scored his first great goal from outside the area, a registered trademark since then, to put the partial tie.

Randal Kolo Muani had advanced 'Les Bleus' in the 9th minute, while Lamine's 'pepinazo' fell in the 21st minute. Four minutes later, Dani Olmo scored the second and definitive goal for La Roja, which would later repeat the result in the final against England (2-1) to keep the trophy.

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In that semifinal, Dembélé was also a starter and completed a fairly gray match. Olivier Giroud replaced him in the 79th minute, while Yamal played the 90 minutes and left in injury time.

• 👉Follow all the news of the UEFA Nations League 2024/25 and its 'final four' in FCBN!

Lamine vs Dembélé: this is how the race for the Ballon d'Or is

In the one-on-one, Dembélé won one more title than Lamine, the Champions League. Both lifted the domestic treble with their clubs (League, Cup and Super Cup), although the 'Mosquito' only scored in the Super Cup final (1-0 against Monaco).

Lamine, on the other hand, shook the nets in the Clásicos of Cup (3-2) and Super Cup (5-2) against Real Madrid. He also did his homework in the two league duels against the 'merengues', while in the Champions League, the Frenchman took advantage of the 'play off' prior to the round of 16 to improve his records.

In the tie against Brest (10-0 on aggregate for PSG), the 'Mosquito' scored a couple of goals in the first leg. Finally he closed the tournament with 8 goals and 5 assists (2 in the final against Inter), while Yamal added 5 goals and 4 assists in 13 appearances in the tournament.

Ousmane closed the 24/25 as Pichichi of Paris, with 33 goals, taking advantage of Luis Enrique's decision to line him up as a 'false 9'/attacking midfielder, while Lamine was co-leader in assists for Barça, along with Raphinha, with 23 passes of goal. The one from Mataró participated in 33 goals, while the one from Vernon produced 48 goals in the course.