🚨🎙️ Samuel Eto’o on Lamine Yamal and his Ballon d’Or chances. “It’s actually funny seeing the amount of criticism Lamine has received since El Clásico. People are talking about that performance as if it sums up his entire Ballon d’Or campaign. What are we even talking about? 2026 Ballon d’Or is what matters now, and one bad game shouldn’t suddenly erase everything he has done. What pisses me off the most is seeing his own Culers criticizing him, calling him all sorts of names just because he had a bad game. Who the hell doesn’t have a bad game? Even Lionel Messi had bad games. Maybe that’s the price you pay for playing for a club like Barcelona, but people forget everything too quickly. Lamine is special, and I don’t think a player should be celebrated only when he does extraordinary things and then get torn apart the moment he has one bad performance. Sometimes, I look at the criticism and remember how young this boy actually is. The expectations placed on him are enormous, yet people act as if he’s not allowed to make mistakes. For me, he remains a strong contender for the Ballon d’Or. He was the best player in La Liga last season, won trophies with both his club and country, and played a crucial role in his team’s success. You cannot ignore all of that because of one El Clásico. Judge the whole season, not one afternoon. That’s how football should work.”

🚨🎙️ Karim Benzema on who deserves to win the 2026 Ballon d’Or. Reporter: “The 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony is today. Who do you think truly deserves to win it?” Karim Benzema: “I know it might sound strange choosing Lionel Messi, and people will say, ‘You’re a Real Madrid legend. Why not Mbappé or Bellingham? What about Harry Kane?’ But honestly, I don’t care about those arguments. They’ve all had spectacular seasons, but there’s more to the Ballon d’Or than people actually think. “We no longer bother to look at what a guy does on the pitch, just who has scored and the next day, we consider him the best. It’s happened to me. I don’t play a good game, I score and they see me as the best. I don’t really like this type of football. “And honestly, I don’t understand why the Ballon d’Or should become an award for whoever scores the most goals when we already have awards for goalscorers. If scoring is the only thing that matters, then just give the trophy to the player with the highest goal tally and stop pretending we’re judging the best footballer in the world. Being the best player and being the top scorer are two different things. You can score a hat-trick and still have someone else control the entire game, create everything and make you look better. “That’s why I look at Messi differently. At 39, he’s still doing things that players in their prime can only dream of. He’s not just waiting for somebody to pass him the ball so he can score. He takes responsibility, beats defenders, creates chances out of nothing, dictates the rhythm of a game and carries his team when everything becomes difficult. He can decide a match without scoring, and that’s what people seem to forget when they reduce football to statistics. “Honestly, when I watch Messi, I sometimes wonder what else people want from this man. He has spent nearly two decades making football look easy, and now, at 39, he’s still competing against younger players and showing them things they cannot do themselves. Most players at that age are thinking about retirement, but Messi is still giving defenders nightmares. We’re talking about a player who can score, assist, dribble past three opponents and create the winning chance in the same game. That’s not normal football. That’s extraordinary talent. “People said he couldn’t do it outside Europe. They questioned the level he was playing at and suggested he wouldn’t survive against the biggest clubs anymore. But he went into a competition featuring countries from different parts of the world and showed his quality against top opposition. He didn’t spend his time arguing with critics or trying to convince people with interviews. He went onto the pitch and answered them with his football. At some point, you have to stop moving the goalposts just because you don’t want to admit how special someone is. “And look at what he has done for Argentina. Taking your country to a World Cup final and delivering performances at that level is something you cannot simply dismiss. His influence on that team goes far beyond goals. He creates belief, gives his teammates confidence and makes the difference when the pressure is at its highest. That’s what greatness looks like. “Mbappé and Kane deserve respect for their goals, absolutely. But goals alone cannot tell you who the best player is. If we’re going to judge the Ballon d’Or properly, we have to look at the entire game, not just the final touch. Otherwise, we’re rewarding one part of football and ignoring everything that makes a player truly exceptional. “For me, Messi has already shown us more than enough. At 39, he’s still doing things that make the entire football world stop and watch. We should be celebrating that instead of finding new reasons to question him. If the Ballon d’Or is genuinely about the best footballer in the world and not simply the best goalscorer, then I don’t see how anyone deserves it more than Lionel Messi.”