Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe is bullish about who should win the Ballon d'Or but he will not attend Monday night's ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris
Kylian Mbappe believes that Ousmane Dembele deserves to win the Ballon d'Or despite scoring more goals than his former Paris Saint-Germain teammate last season. No one scored more goals than the Real Madrid forward's 44 last season.
Eight were penalties, but Mbappe also led all players for non-penalty goals with 36. Robert Lewandowski managed just one less while Dembele had 32, with only one of his goals from the spot. The latter, however, played for last season's most successful team, PSG. They won the Coupe de France, Ligue 1 and the Champions League while reaching the Club World Cup final.
Mbappe is in no doubt about who should win the Ballon d'Or. "Does [Dembele] deserve it? For me, yes," the player told the French broadcaster Telefoot earlier this month. "I hope he wins it. I have supported him from the start," Mbappe also exclaimed. "If it were up to me, I'd deliver it to his house!"
He also has another soft spot for one of his former team-mates. "I also hope that Achraf (Hakimi) will be well ranked," Mbappe said. "It would be good for the defenders, he had a historic season."
He, however, could not bring himself to back Lamine Yamal. "He's a Barça player, we cannot say anything," Mbappe quipped before laughing.
He also acknowledged that winning the award is on the minds of all players. "There are opportunities to seize or not, but it goes through collective titles, by a successful season," Mbappe said. "I think I don't break taboo if I say that if I have a successful season and I win trophies, I will win it too. You must first be focused on what is within your reach, and what is within my reach is to help my teams, do everything I can to work with my teams and win trophies."
The player also confirmed to CBS Sports whether he will be attending to ceremony or not. "I will watch it on TV and hope that [Dembele] wins it," Mbappe said.
Madrid play Levante in La Liga on Tuesday night and trained at Valdebebas on Monday, so none of the team will be present.
Neither will several PSG players due to the rescheduling of their match against Marseille because of a storm warning on Sunday, as it now clashes with the ceremony. Dembele, however, can still attend as he will not play at Stade Velodrome while recovering from a hamstring injury. Injuries to Desire Doue and Joao Neves should also see them at the Theatre du Chatelet.