Lamine Yamal snubbed Ousmane Dembele when naming best five players in Champions League this season
Lamine Yamal snubbed Ousmane Dembele when naming the five best players in the Champions League this season.
Dembele won the Champions League with Paris Saint-Germain as they defeated Inter Milan 5-0 in Munich on Saturday.
The 27-year-old played a key role in their success throughout the competition.
The former Barcelona winger scored eight goals and provided six assists in his 15 matches, and lifted the trophy for the first time in his career.
Advert
He was named in UEFA's Team of the Season and was then named as the overall Player of the Year for his achievements.
Yamal, meanwhile, lined up alongside him in the best XI, having also enjoyed a superb competition.
The 17-year-old helped Barca to reach the semi-final, scoring five goals and three assists.
He also produced one of the performances of the season in the first leg of the semi-final against Inter Milan, which Barca drew 3-3 before losing the second leg 4-3.
After the conclusion of the final, Yamal was asked to name his top five players from this season - but didn't include Dembele.
In an interview with Spanish radio station COPE, the 17-year-old was asked for his best goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and striker from the 2024/25 competition.
Yamal ended up picking two midfielders in a joint tie.
His first choice was PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, while team-mate and centre-back Willian Pacho was selected as the defender.
A third PSG star in Vitinha was named as the best midfielder, along with Yamal's Barcelona team-mate Pedri.
And he named a second Barcelona star as the best striker - Brazil international Raphinha.
Raphinha was seen as a leading candidate by some to win the 2025 Ballon d'Or this season, but he has dropped behind Dembele and Liverpool's Mohamed Salah in the pecking order in recent weeks after Barcelona failed to reach the Champions League final.
Topics: Lamine Yamal, Ousmane Dembele, Champions League, Football, FC Barcelona, PSG
Ryan Smart