Yamal: The Ballon d'Or Should Go to the Best, Not Just Champions League Winners or Top Scorers

Barcelona star Lamine Yamal gave an interview to the Spanish television program "Universo Valdano" on Movistar Plus, from which only select excerpts have been released until now. In it, the Catalan prodigy once again discussed the Ballon d'Or, hinting that he believes he is the most deserving of the award.

"This award is judged differently. When it was Messi and Cristiano, everyone knew they were the two best in the world, so the honor was shared between them. The problem now is that people evaluate things unrelated to the Ballon d'Or. For example, when they say a PSG player should win it because they won the Champions League," Yamal stated.

"When you win the Champions League, you get the Champions League award for PSG, who were the best team, and that's PSG's award. It's different if the best footballer in the world plays for PSG. Then, I believe this award should go to the best player in the world, full stop. Not to a player who scored 80 goals, because when you score 80 goals, you get the top scorer award for the season.

These are very different things that people don't understand. The best player in the world is the one you, as a commentator, watch in a match and enjoy, seeing that they are far more different than everyone else. When the focus returns to that, and the best player in the world is truly the best, not just the one who scores the most goals or has won the most titles, then the award will regain its true value," added the Barcelona talent.

In another part of the conversation, Lamine commented on modern football and why he sometimes goes home angry: "The way I grew up with football was watching entire matches, from minute zero to ninety. I didn't go into an app to see how many goals or assists each player had. Back then, everyone enjoyed football. You'd watch an attacking midfielder who might not have scored 20 goals, but it was a pleasure to watch him, like Özil, whom I really liked.

I think the current generation goes into a match, looks at an app, and says, 'Lamine scored two goals or provided two assists, so he had a very good game.' But there are times, in many matches it has happened to me, where I felt I put on a spectacle, but I might not have scored a goal, and yet I go to bed very satisfied because I know that football isn't just about the one who scores the goal, but the entire attack from the goalkeeper's distribution."

He added on the topic: "I go home and sometimes I'm angry, and my mother always asks me if I'm angry because I didn't score a goal. I tell her that I will never go home angry because I didn't score a goal. Scoring a goal is a statistic. I get angry if I don't touch the ball, if I can't enjoy the game; that's what makes me most upset."

Regarding purely footballing aspects, he admitted: "In training, I always talk to Fermín, who is a player who looks for empty spaces more, or with Eric (Garcia) and Jules (Kounde). I tell them I prefer them to double-team me from the inside, because if they do, they either leave themselves open or get out of the situation and can no longer bother me, so they are eliminated. We try to discuss it. The simplest things in football are what work best. If a player constantly runs into empty space, and the defense stays put, there's a second where he'll be alone, and that's the second you always have to train for. It's a second you have to judge very well."