Real Madrid manager José Mourinho has thrown his support behind Kylian Mbappé in the race for this year's Ballon d'Or, insisting the prestigious individual award should be reserved for the finest player on the planet rather than handed out based on collective achievements like World Cup or Champions League triumphs.
Speaking to reporters ahead of his side's La Liga fixture against newly promoted Málaga on Sunday, Mourinho made his case for the France captain, who enjoyed a standout summer by becoming the all-time top scorer in World Cup history.
"The best players in the world, there are two, three or four of them, and we know who they are: they're here," Mourinho told the assembled media on Saturday, before singling out Mbappé for special praise. "For me, there is one who, individually, made history this summer," he added, referencing the striker's World Cup exploits.
Mbappé enters the Ballon d'Or conversation on the back of a remarkable individual campaign, having topped the scoring charts in La Liga, the Champions League, and the World Cup last season, even though he did not lift a major trophy with either club or country. His recent form has only strengthened his case — the Frenchman bagged a hat-trick in Real Madrid's 4-1 demolition of Real Sociedad on Wednesday, and he was splashed across the front page of AS newspaper on Saturday beneath the headline "Mbappé targets the Ballon d'Or."
The forward faces stiff competition for football's most coveted individual prize, with names such as Harry Kane, Rodri, Ousmane Dembélé, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia all in the mix. Rodri's Spain lifted the World Cup, while Dembélé and Kvaratskhelia were part of a PSG side that claimed Champions League glory — achievements that some might argue carry more weight than individual brilliance without silverware.
But Mourinho pushed back firmly against that logic, arguing that team success should not be the deciding criterion for the Ballon d'Or. "You cannot give the Ballon d'Or to a player simply because he won the Champions League or the World Cup," the Portuguese coach said. "The Ballon d'Or should go to one of those players who, when they retire, will be missed for ever."
To illustrate his point, Mourinho invoked a lineage of footballing icons whose individual genius transcended trophies won in any single season. "Maradona, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo Nazario, Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Zidane…" he listed, positioning Mbappé within that elite bracket of players defined by their singular talent rather than the honors accumulated by their teams.
Mourinho went further, suggesting that if the award were truly meant to reward collective success, it should go to the coaches and managers responsible for those triumphs instead. "If we want to reward the Champions League, then give it to Luis Enrique. For the Spanish national team, give it to De la Fuente," he said, referencing PSG's Champions League-winning coach and Spain's World Cup-winning boss. "The best player in the world is something else and he is neither at PSG nor in the Spain team."
The comments come at a pivotal moment for Real Madrid, who are chasing their third consecutive victory to open the new La Liga season when they welcome Málaga this weekend. Mbappé's blistering start to the campaign, capped by his midweek hat-trick, has only added fuel to the debate over who deserves to be crowned the world's best player when the Ballon d'Or ceremony arrives.
Based on reporting from The Guardian.