Joe Casey: The race for the Ballon d'Or could mark the dawning of a new era

Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d’Or a record eight times since 2007, but all eras come to an end and last Wednesday suggested that we are at the dawn of a new one.

Lamine Yamal’s dazzling display in the first leg of Barcelona's Champions League semi-final left observers running out of superlatives and bookmakers rushing to cut him from 9-2 to 6-4 to be crowned the best player on the planet this year.

It was quite a way for 17-year-old Yamal to mark his 100th game for the Catalan giants and has brought with it comparisons to another winger who propelled himself to superstardom in the number 19 shirt of Barca, Messi.

The Argentinian master scored 41 goals and registered 14 assists, as well as winning five trophies, in his first 100 games for Barca whereas Yamal has scored 22 times, with 27 assists and lifted three trophies, although with Barcelona four points clear at top of the La Liga table and are favourites to get the better of Inter in the second leg at the San Siro, Yamal may not be far behind his predecessor come June 1.

If Hansi Flick’s side make it to Munich, Yamal will become the youngest player to appear in a Champions League final, following on from being the youngest player to have run out in a European Championship final last year, when he helped Spain to beat England in Berlin. It puts into context where he finds himself in the global game at such a young age and his performance last Wednesday showed that while many expected him to be the best player on the planet at some stage of his career, he may already be there.

Messi was 22 when he first won the Ballon d’Or so, at 17, Yamal is on course to beat him by four-and-a-bit years and become comfortably the youngest winner in the award's long and illustrious history.

Barca teammate Raphinha, who has netted a remarkable 31 goals and 22 assists in all competitions this term, is his closest challenger to strike gold according to bookmakers.

But despite those incredible numbers, the former Leeds man continues to be overshadowed by Yamal and, at 2-1, the Brazilian looks short enough in the betting.

Mo Salah has had a remarkable Premier League campaign with 28 goals and 18 assists, but Liverpool's failure to go deep in the Champions League may well have cost him his chance. The Egyptian is available at 8-1 after trading at odds-on earlier this year.

PSG's Ousmane Dembele has had an outstanding campaign and is 5-1 to win the Ballon d’Or, but he may need to fire the French champions to Champions League glory if he is to claim football's biggest individual award.

Ten of the last 18 Ballon d’Or winners had won Europe’s biggest competition that season, although the link between the two achievements has not been as strong in recent years and only one of the last four victors was a current Champions League winner. That said, Messi was crowned the winner for an eighth time in 2023 after guiding Argentina to World Cup glory  and last year's winner Rodri had just won the Euros with Spain. 

A powerful narrative seems more important than ever to win the Ballon d'Or and the start of the Lamine Yamal era could be difficult for voters to resist.

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