Lionel Messi passes Kylian Mbappe during the 2023 Ballon d’Or France Football award ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet (Image: Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)
Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe has faced a scathing backlash from the media in his home country after missing out on the 2024 Ballon d’Or award.
The prestigious honour was given to Manchester City’s Rodri, but the French press has expressed dismay over Mbappe’s failure to win the trophy so far in his career. L’Equipe, a prominent French tabloid, has been particularly critical, drawing comparisons between Mbappe’s achievements and those of Lionel Messi at the same age.
“Mbappe will turn 26 in December. At that age, Messi had already won four Ballon d’Ors. The captain of France’s national team will soon have to ask himself if he will ever win a Ballon d’Or,” the outlet said.
The French star was widely viewed as the natural successor to Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s throne, and though he is now considered one of the world’s best strikers and already has multiple trophies to his name, L’Equipe’s reaction to his latest failure to capture the gong sums up that faith in becoming the best player on earth is beginning to wane.
Messi wins his eighth Ballon d’Or in October 2023 (Image: AP)
Mbappe has received seven nominations for the award, including his first at just 18 years old. But journalist Vincent Duluc has belittled his recent achievements, claiming the striker has lost touch with the game’s “essence”.
Duluc wrote: “When we leave so few marks after a season as a Champions League semifinalist, Euro Cup semifinalist and 52 goals scored, it’s because we’re straying a bit from football’s essence. Now, at 26 years old, he must return to it.”
The journalist also launched a tirade against Real Madrid in an editorial titled: “Ballon d’Or: Real Madrid’s electoral and moral defeat”. He lambasted Madrid’s decision to abstain from sending any representatives to the ceremony, accusing them of “lacking class”, as per the Mirror.
Nominees from Los Blanco such as Vinicius, Mbappe, Dani Carvajal, Jude Bellingham, Antonio Rudiger and Fede Valverde all chose not to attend the event. Real also issued a scathing statement to AFP, stating: “If the award criteria doesn’t give it to Vinicius as the winner, then those same criteria should point to (Madrid defender) Carvajal as the winner.
“As this was not the case, it is clear that the Ballon d’Or-UEFA does not respect Real Madrid. And Real Madrid does not go where it is not respected.”
Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe played together at PSG (Image: Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)
This year, the award rules transformed, with organisers keen to keep the winner’s identity under wraps until the envelope was opened. However, Duluc maintained that Madrid either refused to accept these rules or were privy to the outcome and opted out of attending.
The L’Equipe article also questioned Madrid president Florentino Perez’s choice to bypass the prestigious gala and suggested that Mbappe’s delay in receiving the trophy was a casualty of Madrid’s refusal to cooperate with the organisation. Although he didn’t secure the award he yearned for, Mbappe did clinch the Gerd Muller Trophy, a recognition for netting the most goals in Europe, alongside Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane.
Despite bagging six Ligue 1 titles with PSG and one with Monaco, a World Cup victory with France in 2018 and another final appearance in 2022, as well as a plethora of domestic trophies, Mbappe’s quest for the Ballon d’Or continues. When Messi was the same age as the Madrid star, he had already pocketed four Ballon d’Ors after securing the accolade in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
He would later add another four to his collection in 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023, taking his total to an incredible eight wins of the prestigious trophy.
Source: https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1968882/Lionel-Messi-Kylian-Mbappe-Ballon-d-Or