In terms of achievements, Lamine Yamal is unlikely to compare with a few PSG players when he did not win the Champions League, did not win the Nations League. If PSG win the FIFA Club World Cup in the near future, Yamal's gap in the number of titles won in 2025 compared to the PSG star players will be even further.
However, 18 goals, 21 assists and a captivating playing style of the 17-year-old talent are enough to help him have a solid position in every individual race in the 2024-2025 season. Last season, Barcelona won three domestic titles, especially when they won for the first time in their history against Real Madrid in a single season. In those El Clasico matches, Lamine Yamal always played very well and made an outstanding impression.
In Barca's success last season, in addition to Lamine Yamal, other names such as Pedri or Raphinha are also extremely outstanding. However, in terms of inspiration, one of the criteria for the 2025 Ballon d'Or, it is difficult for Raphinha and Pedri to stand out more than Lamine Yamal.
Meanwhile, PSG have 4 names that could be a match against Yamal, including: Vitinha, Nuno Mendes, Ousmane Dembele and Joao Neves.
Dembele has been PSG's main striker in all competitions since last season, but he did not have a good record in the 2025 Nations League when the French team stopped in the semi-finals. Compared to the Portuguese trio Vitinha - Joao Neves - Nuno Mendes, Dembele is inferior in collective achievements.
For the Portuguese trio, they have just had a dream year in 2025, ending with the Nations League championship. If everything goes as the experts predicted, PSG can win the FIFA Club World Cup 2025TM, thereby further enhancing the role of this trio.
Among the three stars mentioned above, the current order of influence could be Vitinha - Mendes - Neves. Although Joao Neves is a very important factor for PSG and Portugal, his brilliance compared to his two teammates is considered inferior. Neves mainly played deep to make a launching pad and connect the lines on the pitch. He is a silent hero, very classy, but in a race like the Ballon d'Or, you need to be brilliant to be the one to lift the title.
Mendes is being named the world's best left-back. He makes every defense challenge, even knows how to score or assist very well. With Mendes in hand, Luis Enrique and Roberto Martinez are confident of winning in left-wing matches against their opponents.
However, Mendes is only a defender, his biggest weakness in the individual title race. The last time a defender won the Ballon d'Or was in 2006, when Fabio Cannavaro increased it on the hand with the World Cup championship.
The most prominent remaining player in the Portuguese star squad, who can compete with Dembele, is Vitinha. He is the true conductor of PSG and the Portuguese national team. Not only coordinating well, Vitinha is like a spring that compresses the entire formation. In the Nations League semi-final between Portugal and Germany, the face of the "European Selecao" in the first and second rounds was completely different when Vitinha appeared.
The latest goal against Atletico Madrid at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025TM is another proof that if Vitinha wins the Ballon d'Or 2025, it will not be an earthquake.
