After Paris Saint-Germain failed to win the UEFA Champions League this past season, having an excellent performance at UEFA Euro 2024 was one way for Kylian Mbappé to secure the Ballon d’Or this year.
PSG made it to the semifinals of the Champions League, but the 25-year-old didn’t factor in helping them get past Borussia Dortmund. The Parisians crashed out in the semifinals to the German side, so not winning the top trophy in club football hurt his candidacy.
Still, Mbappé had the Euros to win a major trophy this year, which helped his candidacy for the Ballon d’Or. However, that hasn’t gone as planned, with the Frenchman suffering a nose injury and only scoring a goal on a penalty kick.
While talking to PSG Talk, journalist Robin Bairner notes that he doesn’t see the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner lifting the Ballon d’Or this year. Moreover, he states that his frontrunners for the award are his new Real Madrid teammates.
“I think he probably wasn’t really a major Ballon d’Or contender purely because of PSG’s performance in the Champions League,” Bairner said. “I think if he was going to win the Ballon d’Or he would have had to have a stellar Euros, I think. You were probably talking about scoring six or seven goals. He’s unlikely to do that now. But you know, he could still explode. All it takes is for him to score a couple of goals against Portugal, one in the semi-final, and then get another hat-trick in the final.
“All of a sudden you’re looking at a Ballon d’Or contender again but he’s certainly not up there with perhaps Vini Jr. [or] Bellingham’s probably. He’s not in quite the same league as Vinny for me, but he’s had a lot of moments. I’m thinking of the classic goals for Real Madrid and also the goal for England the other night. But I think Mbappe is definitely a tier below these guys at the moment, and I don’t think the Ballon d’Or is his this year unless he does something absolutely remarkable over the course of the next week or so.”
I am waiting for when this Mbappe deal will fall through at the last minute as it usually does