A career-best finish that still stings
Kylian Mbappé has never been closer to the Ballon d’Or, and that is exactly why this one hurts. The Real Madrid forward, 27, finished second in the 2026 vote, behind only Harry Kane, by a handful of points. It is his best placing yet. A month ago he told France Football that nobody had been better than him last season.
Jean-Pierre Papin, the 1991 winner, thinks that kind of talk cost him. Speaking on RMC’s Rothen s’enflamme today, he called Mbappé’s communication “terrible for him” and said it reflected the character. Papin compared him to Cristiano Ronaldo, a star who expects the team to bend around him.
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Eight finishes, one near miss
Papin was not writing Mbappé off. He sees the efficiency as close to what Ronaldo produced and says he is convinced the award will come. This was not the year or never, in his words, and there is still ground to cover.
The numbers back the idea of a long climb. Mbappé was seventh in 2017, fourth in 2018, sixth in 2019, ninth in 2021, sixth in 2022, third in 2023, sixth in 2024 and seventh last year. Second place is a real jump, even if it came with a very public campaign attached.
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