Lionel Messi sent a message to his former Barcelona teammate, Ousmane Dembélé, on the occasion of his first Ballon d’Or win in 2025.
Messi is the player with the most Ballon d’Or wins in history, having won it eight times, the last in 2023. He has a very good relationship with Dembélé, having played together at Barcelona for nearly four years.
“Great, Ousmane! I’m so happy for you, you deserve it,” Messi wrote after Dembélé’s Ballon d’Or win was announced.
Messi is considered one of the most influential players in Dembélé’s career, a point confirmed by the player himself, who said that Messi never stopped giving him instructions when they were together at Barcelona.
Although Barcelona star Lamine Yamal lost the award to Dembélé, Messi paid little attention to affiliations, emphasizing that the PSG star was the undisputed winner, given his tremendous collective achievement with the French club.
Meanwhile, Dembélé has scored 35 goals and provided 16 assists in 58 appearances for Paris Saint-Germain in all competitions, thus meeting the two most important criteria: collective success and outstanding individual performance.
