Barcelona's Lamine Yamal and Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappé -- LaLiga's two biggest stars -- were both on the podium when the men's Ballon d'Or was announced on Monday, but both left the ceremony disappointed.
Less than 24 hours after they competed on the pitch in El Clásico -- where Mbappé scored both Madrid's goals in a shock 2-1 win at Camp Nou -- the duo were in London to see Bayern Munich and England striker Harry Kane take the main prize ahead of them.
Mbappé claimed both the Golden Boot at this summer's FIFA World Cup and became the top goalscorer in the history of the men's tournament, while Yamal won the trophy with Spain. Both players performed outstandingly on an individual level last season, but it wasn't enough.
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ESPN's Madrid correspondent Alex Kirkland and Barcelona correspondent Sam Marsden look at the reasons why the duo each missed out on the Ballon d'Or, and assess their prospects of claiming it in the future.
Kylian Mbappé
Mbappé has now finished fourth (in 2018), third (in 2023) and second (this year) in the race for the men's Ballon d'Or. But first place still eludes him. The long-anointed megastar successor to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the outstanding player in the men's game must wait another year.
But let's be honest: should 2026 have been Mbappé's year, at all? Real Madrid won nothing last season as they finished behind Barcelona in LaLiga, for the second year in a row. Mbappé is yet to win a major trophy at the club he joined in 2024. And in the World Cup, Mbappé's France -- for many, the pre-competition favourites -- were dismantled by Spain in an incredibly one-sided semifinal, falling short in a tournament's final stages once again.
Zero trophies won. It's not exactly a watertight case for Ballon d'Or success. Mbappé did score an exceptional number of goals: 25 in LaLiga and another 15 in the Champions League, plus, even more importantly, another 10 at the World Cup, making him the tournament's all-time leading scorer.
But as Mbappé himself has said, multiple times: "There's nothing more important than winning trophies." Mbappé, like Yamal, is outrageously talented, and he's a global icon. But he needs the teams in which he plays to be successful in order to make a convincing argument for landing this particular trophy.
Mbappé will be disappointed to miss out. In recent weeks he had said, openly, that he thought he had a good chance of winning the Ballon d'Or for the first time. As he said last month: "I think it's a great opportunity. It's a good year for me."
Mbappé unashamedly campaigned for this award in a way that is unusual. We never saw that from Messi; perhaps more so from Ronaldo. Even Barcelona and Yamal were forced to respond, going into campaign mode themselves, with Yamal giving a number of rare interviews in an attempt to counter Mbappé's electioneering.
"Work hard in silence. Let success be your noise," Kane posted on social media on Monday night. It's a message Mbappé might like to consider taking onboard going forward. There's still time. Mbappé is 27; Kane is 33. Although Yamal, 19, isn't going anywhere.
For Mbappé to win the Ballon d'Or, a Real Madrid revival is in order. Win LaLiga this season, or even better, the Champions League -- as Madrid's best player and leading scorer -- and he'll have a really strong case in 2027, especially given that there's no major men's tournament next summer to overshadow those achievements. -- Kirkland
Lamine Yamal
For the second year running, Barcelona's Yamal made the Ballon d'Or podium. It is an impressive feat for someone who is still a teenager, yet there was a level of disappointment that he has still not won football's most coveted individual prize.
Yamal, 19, finished second to Paris Saint-Germain's Ousmane Dembélé 12 months ago in what the forward's father dubbed "the biggest moral damage done to a human being."
After improving his numbers with Barça last season -- 24 goals and 18 assists across 45 appearances in all competitions -- there was optimism Yamal would become the youngest player to ever win the Ballon d'Or. The record is currently held by former Brazil striker Ronaldo Nazário, who was 21 years and 92 days old when he won it in 1997.
Yamal's goals and assists were not futile, either. They propelled Barça to a second successive league title and saw Yamal named LaLiga's player of the season for the 2025-26 campaign -- ahead of Mbappé. He was then part of the Spain team which won the World Cup. How could he not win?
Yamal travelled to London on a private jet with his close circle of friends and family in hope of being named the best player in the world. However, rather than tipping the balance in his favour, it is the lack of a defining moment at the World Cup which counted against him in the end.
Returning from a hamstring injury, he was a substitute in Spain's first game against Cape Verde, but started and scored against Saudi Arabia in their second match. He did not score or assist again at the finals -- although he did win the penalty from which Spain scored their opening goal against France in the semifinal.
Any suggestion that he flopped at the World Cup is nonsense. He attempted more take-ons (63, 9.22 per/90) than anyone else at the tournament -- completing 42.9% of them. Of the players joining him in the top 10, only Messi and Jude Bellingham had a higher success percentage. Opposition players were drawn to him. He created space and opportunities for his teammates, but it is also true he was not at his blitzing best.
In the final against Argentina he was lively, crafting openings for himself and his teammates. But he did not have that one moment. If he had scored the winning goal instead of Ferran Torres, maybe he would have been ahead of Kane and Mbappé in London on Monday.
It feels like a matter of time until Yamal does win the Ballon d'Or, although he is running out of time to beat Ronaldo's record. He will be 20 next year.
He is already posting the numbers that will ensure he is once again in the conversation in 2027. He has hit 10 goals and supplied 10 assists in 13 appearances already this season.
Yamal transcends numbers, though. There are few players in the game more fun to watch, capable of making 90,000 supporters woo with a nutmeg or a trivela pass. With no major international tournament next summer, therefore, his chances may simply depend on Barça's success in the Champions League and the magic he comes up with on the biggest nights. -- Marsden
