Alas Mbappé, the throne slips away!

Amidst the dazzling world of football glory, the Ballon d'Or is not measured solely by goals or individual awards, but is also tied to the fate of the team and the grand narrative of a season.

Amidst the dazzling world of football glory, the Ballon d'Or title is not just weighed by goals or personal trophies, but is intertwined with the collective destiny and the bigger story of a season.

Kylian Mbappé, a prodigy at just twenty-six, has already built a brilliant career, lifting the World Cup in 2018, making a huge impact in the 2022 final, winning numerous domestic titles with PSG, and now greeting Real Madrid with 44 goals, along with the Pichichi and the European Golden Shoe.

Yet, when the Châtelet theater shone bright on the 2025 awards night, the spotlight was not on Mbappé, but on Ousmane Dembélé.

Alas! A glaring paradox.

The hero who storms forward like a tempest, scoring as swiftly as the wind blows, has still not reached the highest honor. The Ballon d'Or is strict: it’s not just about numbers, but about the story behind them.

Messi was honored for the World Cup, Modric for Croatia’s miracle, Ronaldo for the Champions League. Mbappé, though consistently scoring fireworks, lacks a “defining match” to be remembered forever. Consistency becomes a curse: the more familiar, the less surprising.

Meanwhile, Dembélé’s comeback after many injury seasons moves hearts. Mbappé, expected to inherit the legacy of Messi and Ronaldo, is overshadowed by those very expectations. For others, 44 goals is extraordinary; for him, it’s considered routine.

But time is still on his side. At twenty-six, Mbappé is entering his prime, wearing the Real Madrid jersey, where Champions League prowess is forged. Just one perfect season, with either the European trophy or the World Cup, and the story will belong to him, making the Ballon d'Or hard to escape.

Truly:

Though the mountain peak is high, the clouds still call

The golden throne missed, but the wind still waits

A hero once unclaimed

The thunder from the blue sky will come in time

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