Tactically, start with the standings. Harry Kane wins the Ballon d’Or on Monday night. Kylian Mbappé is second, a few votes behind. Lamine Yamal is third and takes the Kopa Trophy, the one for best young talent of the year. I read all that Tuesday morning, my folder open on the kitchen table.
Joan Laporta, the president of FC Barcelona, spoke to the international media during the gala. VoetbalPrimeur reports his words: “Lamine Yamal has consistently proven that he deserved the Ballon d’Or. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be.” He gives the prize to Kane as well. And he still sees enough chances for Yamal.
Then this line: “We must now surround Lamine with love and support. That is what he needs. He can still win the prize next year.”
I run that on Tuesday. When we’ve got eleven, that is. At our place, the man of the match is voted in the clubhouse bar, by show of hands, somewhere between the bowl of coffee and the cone of chips. The lad who finishes third doesn’t get left alone at the bar. We buy him a portion of chips. For the collective. And we tell him there’s another game next week. That’s exactly Laporta’s speech, with a gala where we’ve got a portacabin.
The president says two things in the same evening: Yamal deserved it, and so did Kane. I only talk about my own chairman in the conditional, but if he said that, I’d understand. That’s dressing-room management. You upset nobody, you keep everybody for Sunday.
Silly question, but if the president gives the prize to both of them, who keeps the trophy at the weekend?
The Kopa Trophy, that one is in the right cabinet. At our place, the best talent of the year gets a new towel. A flat pitch away, mind you, it’s the same ceremony.
It’s true, we checked: VoetbalPrimeur.be.
