Ousmane Dembele is 100 percent deserving of the Ballon d’Or, according to France coach Didier Deschamps
Dembele is the favourite for the most prestigious individual prize in football after playing an instrumental role in Paris Saint-Germain’s treble-winning season, which was capped with a 5-0 rout of Inter Milan in the Champions League final last Saturday.
The former Barcelona forward did not score in the Allianz Arena showpiece. However, he assisted the second and fourth goals as PSG finally ended their wait for a maiden Champions League crown in emphatic fashion.
Dembele finished the season with 33 goals and 13 assists in all competitions and, while Barcelona stars Lamine Yamal and Raphinha have strong cases along with Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah, it is the France international who leads the way in the eyes of the bookmakers.
He would be the sixth Frenchman to claim the Ballon d’Or, and unsurprisingly has the complete backing of Deschamps.
“Of course I am for Ousmane, since he is French and with the season he is celebrating,” Deschamps told reporters ahead of Friday’s Nations League semi-final between France and Spain.
“Obviously, this Nations League can bring some elements of response, the Club World Cup too. If I have to choose, I tell you Ous, 100%, of course.
“If you ask me about the Spaniards, I don’t think they will tell you the same thing. But obviously, Ousmane, with the season he is having, deserves it.”
Dembele and a clutch of his PSG team-mates are all in the France squad to face Spain, with Désiré Doué in contention to feature fresh off his brace in the Champions League final. Bradley Barcola, Lucas Hernández and Warren Zaïre-Emery are also in Deschamps’ thoughts, as are the Inter duo of Marcus Thuram and Benjamin Pavard.
“They are here, so I am counting on them,” Deschamps said of that group.
“I found them [the PSG players] very happy on Monday evening, of course, with a certain fatigue as well. Then, there were Benjamin and Marcus on the other side. The feelings and emotions were not the same.
“Ideally, when there is a peak like that, of course, you always have to come back down, but now, we need to quickly get back up because the match is close.”
Victory over Spain in Stuttgart would see the PSG contingent return to the scene of their historic triumph, with the winners set to face Portugal in the final at the Allianz Arena on Sunday.
