2025 Ballon D’or winner Ousmane Dembélé mentioned former team mate Lionel Messi and his influence during his acceptance speech on Monday night.
The Frenchman thanked his former clubs, Stade Rennais and Borussia Dortmund, and then Barcelona, where he moved from Dortmund in 2017 for a massive £135 million.
Dembélé said: “I want to thank FC Barcelona, the club of my dreams. I played with Lionel Messi, I want to thank him too, I learned so much from him. To have been able to play with Lionel Messi.. I have learned so much from him.”
Dembélé moved to Barcelona at the age of 20, joining a club boasting one of the best squads in the world at the time. A squad including legends of their time like Luis Suarez, Iniesta and of course, Lionel Messi.
Messi replied to Dembélé’s Instagram post celebrating the award, he wrote “Congratulations. I’m so happy for you. You deserve it!”
At time of writing, that Instagram post has over 3.7 million likes, with over 64 thousand comments, many of which are from team mates and other famous footballing legends, including his team mate at Dortmund Marco Reus, and legend Luis Figo.
Messi had already won five Ballon D’or awards by the time the French winger joined Barcelona, there is no doubt that Messi taught Dembélé a lot during their time playing at Camp Nou together.
