“If only for how he defended” - Luis Enrique picks his 2025 Ballon d’Or winner after guiding PSG to Champions League glory

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) manager Luis Enrique has predicted that Ousmane Dembele will win this year's Ballon d'Or after helping his team secure the Champions League title. The Parisians achieved a 5-0 victory over Inter Milan in the highly anticipated final at the Allianz Arena on Saturday, May 31.

Dembélé assisted with two goals that night and was later named the Champions League Player of the Season. The Frenchman was exceptional for the Ligue 1 champions this campaign, recording 33 goals and 15 assists from 49 matches across competitions.

In his post-match conference, Luis Enrique emphasized that Dembélé also deserves the prestigious individual award in world football for his defensive contributions this season.

“I think the team was exceptional, to have pressed a team as good as Inter with a very high intensity… Ousmane Dembélé pressed Sommer, Acerbi, and the other central defenders with great intensity, which meant that they didn’t have time to think and it cut the team off,” said Enrique.

He continued:

“[…] I would give Mr. Ousmane Dembélé the Ballon d’Or, if only for how he defended. That’s what you call leading a team. I honestly believe that he deserves the Ballon d’Or, not just because of the titles he has won or the goals he scored, but because of the way he has pressed all season.”

Dembele joined PSG from Barcelona in the summer of 2023.

Has a PSG player won the Ballon d'Or before?

Lionel Messi remains the only PSG player to have won the Ballon d'Or in the club's history. The Argentine arrived at the Parc des Princes in the summer of 2021 after his contract with Barcelona expired.

La Pulga would go on to claim the coveted prize for the seventh time later that year. The 37-year-old has six wins with Barcelona, one with the Parisians, and one with Inter Miami.

Interestingly, the only other players to have finished on the podium at the awards are Neymar and Kylian Mbappé. The Brazilian finished third in the Ballon d'Or race in 2017 when Cristiano Ronaldo won the award for the fifth and final time.

Mbappé, meanwhile, took third place in the 2023 race when Lionel Messi secured his eighth trophy with Inter Miami. The French superstar left PSG last summer to join Real Madrid as a free agent and has had an impressive debut season at the Santiago Bernabéu, recording 43 goals from 56 matches.

About the author

Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written over 9000 articles for the website, and has garnered close to 20 million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

Know More

Edited by Vaishnavi Iyer