Ousmane Dembele and Mohamed Salah: Ballon d’Or contenders in contrast forward of PSG vs Liverpool in Champions League

In case your essential soccer sustenance each week is the Premier League, little doubt you have already got Mohamed Salah down as your shoo-in for the Ballon d’Or.

It’s a protected prediction, however there may be one other formidable winger, who has had a blistering begin to 2025 specifically, giving Salah a run for his cash in Ousmane Dembele.

The Paris Saint-Germain ahead equalled Lionel Messi’s document of 17 objectives within the first two months of a calendar 12 months final week, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo’s finest document (16) for January and February within the course of.

Salah and Dembele come face-to-face within the Champions League final 16 this week; a match that would have an enormous bearing on their entries for the most important participant prize of 2025. Right here Sky Sports activities assesses their probabilities…

Ousmane Dembele

This has undoubtedly been Dembele’s finest season so far at 27 years outdated and there are a number of the reason why it’s all coming collectively on the proper time: a brand new tactical function, extra duty, good administration and Dembele’s maturity.

He has all the time been vastly gifted, however his sport has been about balancing all his belongings – dribbling, assists and objectives – right into a constant, completed product. Luis Enrique and his workers have helped him do that, and he has responded by taking duty for the area vacated by Kylian Mbappe and being extra egocentric, whereas working as a false 9 in addition to on the appropriate wing.

The end result has been 18 objectives in 22 Ligue 1 appearances, with 5 assists, and 6 extra objectives and an help within the Champions League, which means he has a complete of 26 objectives and 6 assists throughout 33 appearances in all competitions – far exceeding his previous-best season, when he scored 14 objectives and registered seven assists for Barcelona in 2018-19.

For France, throughout their UEFA Nations League marketing campaign, Dembele has performed in 4 out of their six video games and scored in opposition to Belgium. He’s set to function prominently of their quarter-final with Croatia later this month and will help his bid for the Ballon d’Or vastly if he steers France to the Nations League title.

PSG workers are understood to be of the idea that, if Dembele can navigate PSG past Liverpool onto the very latter levels of the Champions League, as a substitute of Salah, he’ll catapult himself proper to the entrance of the queue for the prize.

Former France and Bordeaux midfielder Rio Mavuba lately instructed FootMercato in France that, if it had been as much as him, he would already select Dembele over Salah. He stated: “Today, I’m picking Ousmane Dembele. Why? Because he’s in the process of stepping up a level and he’s younger. But even from a coach’s perspective, I’d still go with Dembele, because he manages to be decisive, even in key moments.”

His former supervisor at Stade Rennais additionally lately commented: “He has completely taken on the leadership of Paris’ offensive play. I’m not surprised, just proud of him and very happy for him, because I know it weighed on him not finishing better. Today, we can feel he’s fully liberated and fulfilled by the way he’s being used.”

Mohamed Salah

Salah is arguably the clear frontrunner and inarguably the odds-on favorite for the Ballon d’Or at current, having resurrected his finest type for one more gorgeous marketing campaign to date, placing Liverpool heading in the right direction for the Premier League title in Arne Slot’s first season.

In all probability the overarching stat that finest conveys his influence is the share of factors his objectives and assists alone have supplied; some 33 out of the Reds’ 67. That is slightly below half at 49.3 per cent, manner past every other Premier League participant.

At 32, to churn out 25 objectives and 17 assists within the league is astonishing, particularly when you think about what number of seasons he has operated at such a excessive degree – and all whereas the uncertainty of an expiring contract hangs over him.

Within the Champions League he has half the variety of objectives that Dembele does (3) however three extra assists, whereas his efforts within the Carabao Cup means he’s presently on 30 objectives and 22 assists in all competitions to date this season – forward of Dembele.

Final month at Villa Park, Salah equalled his personal Lionel Messi document by scoring and aiding in 10 completely different video games in a single season throughout the 5 largest leagues in Europe, solely he did it inside seven months, whereas Messi did it in 10.

Slot lately admitted that, traditionally, the Ballon d’Or winner must win silverware too, and with each Liverpool and PSG steamrolling their method to their respective leagues, a Champions League winner’s medal may nicely be the clincher.

“It’s not just about the amount of prizes you win, but most of the ones who won the league or Champions League,” the Dutchman stated. “But football is always like this – you need the team to win an individual prize. But Mo understands that. It’s mostly about attackers but the last winner was a midfielder. Good thing Mo is in discussion as that means he is doing well and that means we are doing well. In general, someone who wins the Ballon d’Or needs to win something as well.”

The very fact 13 of the final 18 Ballon d’Or winners have gained Europe’s elite competitors lends additional weight to that prediction.