Ballon d'Or 2026: Bixente Lizarazu campaigns for Lamine Yamal

Bixente Lizarazu has picked his Ballon d’Or winner with just one week to go before the 70th ceremony. The former left-back wants to see Lamine Yamal take the award.

Before making his choice, Lizarazu listed his arguments. "I will try to stick to my criteria, which are primarily collective. There was a season with two major competitions: the Champions League and the World Cup. So it will come down to Kvaratskhelia, Yamal and Dembélé. And then the other criterion is the thrill, the genius. And there, for me, only Yamal remains. What he does on a pitch, especially recently, he has raised his level even further. It is true that his World Cup was not incredible, but he is still a world champion, he won the Spanish league and he is a phenomenal player," the Frenchman said on the Téléfoot programme.

Lizarazu confident about Dembélé

On Saturday, Ousmane Dembélé scored and provided an assist after coming on at Strasbourg. His club performances contrast with those for the French national team, which have earned him so much criticism. However, he can count on Bixente Lizarazu.

Also read: Champions League: Barça send warnings to PSG

"I smile because he has been heavily criticised with the French national team. We always tend to make short-term analyses. Dembélé is a very good player; he did not become a Ballon d'Or winner by chance. At PSG, he is in a very particular system with an interpretation of the centre-forward position that he performs very well and that Luis Enrique wants. With France, he has to manage to interpret it in the same way. I think Zinédine wants, not to play in the PSG way, but at least to put him in the same conditions as at PSG. It did not work, but there is no debate about the player he is: he is a very good player. With confidence, he can do what he did during the week," said the former French international, taking a positive view.

Joshua SOSSOU

Editorfr, en, ar

As a sports fan, and particularly a football fan, I've been putting my writing talent to good use for a number of years now to promote African talent and the continent's football in general. On Foot Africa, enjoy reading each of my lines.

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