Dembélé shuts down rumors of a Ballon d'Or feud with Mbappé

Word had been spreading that Dembélé and Mbappé were at odds over the Ballon d'Or. Supposed friction, jealousy, comments bouncing back and forth across social media. The story had been heating up for days, but Dembélé himself stepped in to put out the fire before it could spread any further.

"No, nothing. I don't comment on all these stories," the winger said when asked about the alleged clash, speaking at the press conference ahead of France's Nations League match against Italy, played Friday at the Stade de France. "I don't comment on these little social media disputes. At 29, honestly, I don't think about that much."

So where did all this come from? It traced back to comments Mbappé made in an interview with France Football magazine. Asked whether anyone would have predicted ten years ago that Dembélé would win the Ballon d'Or before him, Mbappé said he had always been seen as "the chosen one," while Dembélé "caught up very well." Taken out of context, that line was enough to spark talk of tension between the two just as the London ceremony approaches, set for October 26, where Dembélé will look to defend the award he won last year while Mbappé continues waiting for his first.

Dembélé was straightforward about it: yes, he had talked about the subject with Mbappé, but nothing dramatic. "Because we sit together at the table" during meals with the national team, he explained, stripping the whole thing of any drama. Mbappé himself had already downplayed the matter earlier, saying he doesn't think "there's really any issue" between them.

The circumstances, meanwhile, put Dembélé further in the spotlight this Friday: Mbappé was sidelined for the match against Italy with a knee injury, so it was Dembélé who wore the armband, one of the vice captains recently named by coach Zinedine Zidane.

Unreserved praise

Far from using his teammate's absence to create distance, Dembélé spent much of his press conference underscoring Mbappé's importance to the team. It's no small compliment: Mbappé is France's all-time leading scorer with 67 goals and also the top scorer in World Cup history, with 22 goals.

"He's scored an enormous number of goals. When he's here we're very happy, because he brings something extra. But we're a team, and all 23 players called up are important. You don't win with one, two or three players."Ousmane Dembélé

Asked about wearing the armband in the absence of his friend and table companion, Dembélé called it "an honor." No hidden rivalries, no exchanged jabs, just two players competing for the same individual award while still sharing a locker room, a table and a national team.