Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique believes that Ousmane Dembele deserves to win the Ballon d'Or or after they have led from the front in their historical Champions League triumph.
PSG was crowned European champions for the first time on Saturday and interspersed Inter 5-0 in Munich in the most one-sided Champions League final in history.
Desire Doue scored twice for the triple winners of Luis Enrique, who was accompanied by Achraf Hakimi, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Senny Mayulu on the score sheet.
But it was Dembele, who did not score but went on assists for Doue and Kvaratskhelia, who deserved praise after the game from his coach.
“Everyone is worried about whom I would give the Ballon d'Or,” Luis Enrique told reporters.
“I would give the Ballon d'Or to Ousmane Dembele for the way he defended in this final. That is what you call a team.
“I sincerely believe that he earns the balloon, without a doubt, not just for the titles he won or the goals he scored, but for his urgent.
“He did it all season, but exceptional in this final.”
Dembele is the first player to offer two assists in a Champions League final since Marcelo for Real Madrid in 2018, in the 3-1 victory of Los Blancos over Liverpool.
In the meantime, his 14 goal-oriented involvement in the competition of this season (eight goals, six assists) are the second most by a French player in one season, after Karim Benzema in 2021-22 (17).
In all competitions he scored 33 goals and gave 13 assists this season.
Among all players from Europe's top five competitions, only Mohamed Salah (57), Raphinha (56), Harry Kane (49) and Kylian Mbappe (48) improved Dembele's 46 total target intervention.