Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi: The Ballon d’Or Race
Kylian Mbappé spent the summer reminding the world why his name belongs in any Ballon d’Or conversation. Eight goals in North America, a semi-final run with France, long, surging performances that bent games to his will. For a while, it felt like the new Real Madrid “Galáctico” was kicking the door down.
Then Spain slammed it shut.
That defeat has left another major international prize just out of reach, and with it, a powerful argument in the Ballon d’Or race. At club level, the picture is no kinder. The 2025-26 season at Real Madrid ended without a major trophy for the second year running, a jarring reality for a club built on silverware and ceremony.
In the Ballon d’Or stakes, that matters. It always has.
Mbappé’s brilliance, Messi’s leverage
Nobody doubts Mbappé’s numbers. He scored heavily, dragged Madrid through long stretches of the campaign and, as former France forward Jérémie Aliadière points out, “carried the team for most part of the season.” On a purely individual level, the season was a triumph.
But the Ballon d’Or rarely rewards isolation. It crowns kings of winning teams.
Aliadière, speaking to GOAL in association with Betinia NJ, did not dance around the issue when asked if Mbappé’s wait for a first Ballon d’Or is likely to continue. He believes the lack of trophies with Real Madrid is decisive. Champions League. World Cup. Euros. Those are the currencies that sway voters, and Mbappé finished the year without any of them.
The same brutal logic applies elsewhere. Harry Kane, prolific again and central to England’s hopes, saw his own chances evaporate when his country fell short. No trophy, no golden pedestal.
Messi, again
At 39, Lionel Messi is back where he has lived for most of his career: at the heart of the Ballon d’Or debate.
He has driven Argentina to yet another World Cup final, scoring eight times along the way, and is now one game from defending the crown he lifted in Qatar in 2022. One more decisive performance against Spain, and the argument for a ninth Golden Ball becomes almost irresistible.
Aliadière can see the tide turning. In his view, the winner is likely to come from Argentina, and if Messi lifts the World Cup again, the global reaction will be predictable and powerful. The age, the stage, the numbers. The narrative writes itself.
Many will, as Aliadière suggests, “forget that he plays in MLS for Inter Miami.”
That, too, is part of the story. While Mbappé’s Madrid have stumbled in Europe and at home, Messi’s 2025 campaign in North America has been laden with success. He has collected MLS Cup and MVP honours with Inter Miami, sprinkling familiar moments of genius across a new continent.
World stage, same maestro
The club form has bled seamlessly into the international arena. Messi’s latest statement came in Atlanta, where Argentina edged England in a dramatic semi-final that again showcased his ability to bend tight games to his rhythm. For all the years, the touch, vision and timing remain intact.
Former Brazil international and World Cup winner Kleberson sees no mystery in Argentina’s enduring status as favourites when Messi is on the pitch. Speaking to GOAL, he underlined the difference in context between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at this stage of their careers.
Ronaldo still scores, still competes, but Kleberson points to the environment. The support cast around Messi with Argentina, he argues, gives the Albiceleste a purity and balance that Portugal lack around their own icon. The structure, the chemistry, the collective quality — all of it amplifies Messi’s influence.
For Kleberson, if Messi goes on to win another World Cup, there is no debate. “100 per cent he’s going to be up to win the Ballon d’Or again,” he said, stressing how even Brazilian fans recognise the appeal of seeing “players that are a joy to see play” crowned on the biggest stages.
A race defined by trophies
Strip away the romance, and the pattern is clear. Mbappé has the numbers, the highlights, the aura of a superstar in his prime. But he does not have the trophies that shape Ballon d’Or votes.
Messi does. Or could, within 90 minutes and a final whistle.
That is the brutal equation facing Mbappé: in an era where his talent should be defining the awards, he may once again watch the golden ball drift towards the same rival name. And if Messi lifts both the World Cup and a ninth Ballon d’Or at 39, what does that say about the balance of power in the game’s greatest individual prize — and how much longer Mbappé is prepared to wait to claim it?
