Kylian Mbappé's Ballon d'Or Hopes Diminish After World Cup Exit
Kylian Mbappé stormed through North America like a man on a mission, eight goals powering France to yet another deep run on the world stage and dragging his name back into the Ballon d’Or conversation. For a while, it felt inevitable. The new Real Madrid superstar, the heir to the throne, forcing his way into a race that has defined an era.
Then Spain slammed the door.
France’s exit in the semi-finals has not just cut short another World Cup dream; it has also stripped Mbappé of the kind of defining, glittering moment that usually tilts Ballon d’Or votes. At club level, the story has been just as unforgiving. Real Madrid, built again in Galactico fashion and expected to hoard trophies, have now stumbled through a second straight season without a major title.
For an award that still worships silverware, that is brutal.
Jeremie Aliadière, watching from the outside but reading the landscape clearly, sees the pattern. Speaking to GOAL in association with Betinia NJ, the former France international did not dress it up when asked if Mbappé is likely to endure yet another Ballon d’Or near-miss.
“Yeah, I think so,” he said. If Mbappé had turned his avalanche of goals into something tangible with Madrid, Aliadière believes the story might be different. But without trophies, the equation changes.
Mbappé’s individual numbers remain outrageous. He “scored a ridiculous amount of goals and carried the team for most part of the season,” as Aliadière put it. On a personal level, he has been everything Madrid could have asked for. The problem is that the Ballon d’Or has never been a prize for personal excellence alone. Not in this era of superclubs and superstars.
“You've got to win, Champions League or World Cup or Euros,” Aliadière reminded. Mbappé has done none of that this season. So the Frenchman cannot see him lifting the golden ball.
The same harsh logic has tripped up others. Harry Kane, Aliadière argued, might have been right in the thick of the race had England gone “all the way”. They did not. His chance, like Mbappé’s, fades with it.
While Mbappé and Kane are left to count what might have been, Lionel Messi stands again at the centre of the storm.
At 39, Messi has dragged Argentina to yet another World Cup final, matching Mbappé’s tally of eight goals at the tournament and once again turning a global showpiece into his personal stage. He is not just defending the crown he claimed in Qatar 2022; he is threatening to stretch his dominance of the Ballon d’Or into territory that scarcely seemed imaginable when he first burst onto the scene.
A ninth Golden Ball is suddenly not a romantic fantasy but a plausible outcome. One more decisive, talismanic performance against Spain, and the narrative writes itself.
Aliadière can feel the pull of it. “I think it’ll probably be one of Argentina,” he admitted, before landing on the man everyone is watching. If Messi wins it again, Aliadière believes the football world will be “mesmerised by the age and what he's produced at the World Cup and forget that he plays in MLS for Inter Miami.”
That last line cuts to the heart of Messi’s strange, unprecedented late career. On one side, the North American chapter: MLS Cup glory, MVP honours, and a league being reshaped by his presence. On the other, the national team: Argentina still orbiting around him, still relying on his genius in the biggest moments.
His semi-final against England in Atlanta summed it up. High drama, high stakes, and Messi once more at the centre as Argentina edged past another heavyweight. More moments of magic in the Albiceleste shirt, more fuel for a Ballon d’Or campaign that refuses to fade with time.
Kleberson, a World Cup winner who knows what it takes to reach the summit, has watched this from close range and sounds almost in awe. “Wow! That guy never stops!” he told GOAL when asked if Messi could win yet another Ballon d’Or and move four clear of his eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
For Kleberson, the equation is simple: “Argentina has more chance of winning the World Cup with Messi than any other country, just because Messi is still playing at a good level.” The contrast with Ronaldo is stark in his eyes. The Portuguese great still scores, still competes, but Kleberson points to the supporting cast. “The players around Ronaldo, it’s not the same as Messi has with Argentina,” he said. For him, what Argentina and Messi share is “purity”.
That purity, that connection between a generation and its genius, is what gives Messi “a lot of chance” in the Ballon d’Or race, Kleberson insists. The logic is cold and clear: “If he goes and wins the World Cup, 100 per cent he’s going to be up to win the Ballon d’Or again.”
There is admiration there, even from across old rival lines. “Even Brazilian players and fans look at him and want to see good players win the Ballon d’Or and the World Cup - players that are a joy to see play. Messi is one of those.”
So the picture sharpens.
Mbappé, the new Galactico, has the numbers, the aura, the future. What he does not have this year is the trophy that bends the vote his way. Kane sits in a similar bracket, prolific but empty-handed when it mattered most. And Messi, 39 and still dictating the sport’s biggest nights, stands one game away from turning a World Cup defence into a Ballon d’Or procession.
The debate is not over. But if Argentina lift the trophy again, the question may no longer be who succeeds Messi, but how much longer the game belongs to him.
