Will UEFA Champions League final decide 2025 Ballon d'Or winner with Ousmane Dembele, Lautaro Martinez and Gianluigi Donnarumma in contention?
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Published 30/05/2025 at 09:46 GMT+1
The UEFA Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan could ultimately decide who gets their hands on this year's Ballon d'Or. Ousmane Dembele, Lautaro Martinez and Gianluigi Donnarumma will all hope to make an impression in Munich while there will be others watching from afar with hopes of taking the award themselves.
‘Every moment is decisive’ – Inzaghi ‘confident’ Inter can topple PSG and claim UCL crown
Video credit: TNT Sports
Paris Saint-Germain and Internazionale are set to go head-to-head in the biggest game of the European club football calendar when they meet in the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League final.
The Italians, who have a storied history in the competition, will be eyeing up a fourth crown, adding to the titles they won in 1963/64, 1964/65 and most recently, 2009/10.
The Parisians, meanwhile, are looking to create their own history by lifting the trophy for the very first time when they take to the Allianz Arena pitch on May 31, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
But while the main story will be which team emerges triumphant, there will be sub-plots involving the players and the pursuit of individual glory.
UEFA has announced that this year’s Ballon d’Or ceremony will take place on September 22, at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, with the Champions League final potentially giving us an indication of who might be in the running for the top honour on the night.
Would winning the Champions League make Dembele favourite for the Ballon d'Or?
Ousmane Dembele has this season demonstrated exactly why he was one of the most sought-after young players in world football once upon a time.
Starting his career at Rennes, a move to Borussia Dortmund saw him impress enough in just one season with the Bundesliga club to catch the eye of Barcelona.
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Dembele: PSG will give it our all to make history in Champions League
Video credit: TNT Sports
However, after an indifferent six-year spell in Spain, the Frenchman returned home in 2023 and this year is set to complete his most productive campaign since his breakthrough all those years ago.
With 33 goals across all competitions, Dembele has obliterated his previous best total of 14 during his second season with Barcelona in 2018/19.
He only hit double figures again two years later with 11 and even last season, his first in Paris, Dembele only found the back of the net six times.
In the Champions League this season, Dembele has eight goals to date - almost three times as many his previous best of three, which he managed twice in Barca colours.
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And it’s not simply the numbers that matter, but the weight of the goals scored.
As PSG trailed 2-0 to Manchester City on Matchday 7 of the league phase, and staring elimination in the face, Dembele’s goal sparked a remarkable comeback and the Ligue 1 side won 4-2.
He then scored the vital aggregate equaliser to silence Anfield in the round of 16 and did the same to Arsenal in the first leg of the semi-final.
With 44 goal contributions in total so far, another notable contribution in a potential PSG victory in Munich would undoubtedly boost his claims for football’s top individual prize.
And with September's ceremony taking place in his club's home city, it could be the ultimate fairytale for a player once written off for seemingly not living up to his potential.
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Dembele brushes off Ballon d’Or talk ahead of ‘tough’ Champions League final against Inter
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Can Martinez's Champions League form lead him to Ballon d'Or?
Martinez and Inter will come into the match reeling from the blow of missing out on the Serie A title on the final day of the season.
The Argentinian, who sits sixth on Inter’s all-time top goalscorer list with 151 strikes across all competitions, actually endured his least productive campaign in front of goal in Serie A since 2018/19.
Back then, in his first season in blue and black, he scored six league goals, and this season 12.
However, the striker has seemingly been saving himself for Europe, with nine goals on the biggest stage ahead of the final.
This included an impressive hat-trick against Monaco in Inter’s final league phase match which, with a winner against Sparta Prague in the previous game.
Subsequent strikes against Feyenoord in the last 16, and goals in both legs against Bayern Munich in the quarters, saw him become the first player from the club to score in five successive matches in the competition.
Martinez, who had been touted for the Ballon d'Or in previous years by Lionel Messi, no less, will be champing at the bit to both boost his own credentials and help Inter go one better than 2022/23, when they were beaten in the showpiece match by Manchester City.
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Highlights: Lautaro Martinez fires hat-trick as Inter finish in style
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Can Donnarumma break the mould?
No goalkeeper has won the Ballon d’Or since Lev Yashin in 1963.
The likes of Dino Zoff (1973), Oliver Kahn (2002), Gianluigi Buffon (2006) and Manuel Neuer (2014) have all managed to crack the top three, but ironically, given the reliability of their hands, none have managed to grab hold of the main prize.
The lopsided favouring of outfield and mainly attacking players in the voting over the years has actually led to keepers needing their own seperate award for recognition, in the form of the Yashin Trophy, named after the legendary Russian.
Contested since 2019, with the exception of 2020 due to Covid, four goalkeepers have won the award, including PSG’s own Gianluigi Donnarumma, who will be expected to claim the title for the second time this year.
However, the Italian, with victory over his compatriots, could find himself in the running for the main Ballon d’Or prize, with bookmakers pricing him among the favourites for the award.
The stopper staked his claim with a phenomenal penalty shoot-out performance against Liverpool, denying Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones to help the French side to victory, before several brilliant, match-winning saves in both legs of the semi-final against Arsenal.
Demonstrating his importance to the PSG cause, another big performance against Inter, and victory, would strengthen the argument that he could do what no man in his position has done for 62 years and emulate the great Yashin.
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Watch PSG hero Donnarumma's best saves from both semi-final legs against Arsenal
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Who else is in contention for Ballon d'Or glory?
Of course, the Ballon d’Or may not end up the hands of any of the players who feature in Munich, with other deserving stars in the running for this year’s prize.
With his equaliser in Liverpool’s final match of the Premier League season, Mohamed Salah scored his 29th goal in this season’s competition.
Along with his 18 assists, Salah equalled the league record for combined goal contributions with 47, matching the totals of Andy Cole and Alan Shearer in 1993/94 and 1994/95, respectively.
However, Salah’s achievement is arguably greater than the two other Premier League legends due to the fact he racked up his numbers over a 38-game season compared to the 42-game seasons Cole and Shearer played in.
Across all competitions, Salah scored 34 goals and registered 23 assists.
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In Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues, only Barcelona’s Raphinha comes close to Salah, trailing him by one goal involvement (56), helping the Spanish giants to the Liga title and semi-finals of the Champions League.
Despite coming unstuck against Inter, the Brazilian was on target in the second leg in San Siro to make it 13 goals in the competition, alongside Serhou Guirassy.
Barring a remarkable goalscoring display from either Dembele or Martinez in the final, Raphinha is set to collect the Champions League top scorer award, which he will share with the Dortmund man.
Raphinha also has most assists in the competition this season with eight.
UEFA Champions League top scorers 2024/25
| Player | Goals |
| 1. Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund) | 13 |
| = Raphinha (Barcelona) | 13 |
| 3. Harry Kane (Bayern Munich) | 11 |
| = Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona) | 11 |
| 5. Lautaro Martinez (Inter) | 9 |
| 6. Ousmane Dembele (Paris Saint-Germain) | 8 |
| = Erling Haaland (Manchester City) | 8 |
| = Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid) | 8 |
UEFA Champions League top assist-makers 2024/25
| Player | Assists |
| 1. Raphinha (Barcelona) | 8 |
| 2. Charles De Ketelaere (Atalanta) | 5 |
| = Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint Germain) | 5 |
| = Julian Brandt (Borussia Dortmund) | 5 |
| = Davide Zappacosta (Atalanta) | 5 |
| 6. Igor Paixao (Feyenoord) | 4 |
| = Ousmane Dembele (Paris Saint Germain) | 4 |
| = Fabian Ruiz (Paris Saint Germain) | 4 |
| = Marcos Llorente (Atletico Madrid) | 4 |
| = Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa) | 4 |
| = Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich) | 4 |
| = Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund) | 4 |
| = Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) | 4 |
Raphinha's Barca teammate Lamine Yamal is also among the contenders, with his total of 39 goal contributions across all competitions.
The 17-year-old wonderkid has five goals in the Champions League, including one in each round of knockouts.
The manner in which he has gone toe-to-toe with more established stars has certainly caught the eye and could potentially sway voters given his adaptation at such a young age.
How the current contenders are shaping up in the race for Ballon d'or
| Goals | Assists | G+A | |
| Mohamed Salah | 34 | 23 | 57 |
| Raphinha | 34 | 22 | 56 |
| Ousmane Dembele | 33 | 11 | 44 |
| Lamine Yamal | 18 | 21 | 39 |
| Lautaro Martinez | 22 | 3 | 25 |
Thoughts?