Lionel Messi Is Also Happy That Dembele Was Awarded The 2025 Ballon D'Or

Ousmane Dembele won the 2025 Ballon d'Or (Instagram/@o.dembele7).

JAKARTA - The Argentine superstar, Lionel Messi, is also happy for Ousmane Dembele's achievements in winning the 2025 Ballon d'Or award. Messi even expressed his happiness by helping to give direct remarks to Dembele.

The appreciation was expressed by Messi to his former Barcelona team-mate in Dembele's comments column on Instagram. The Inter Miami player stated that Dembele has the right to win the Ballon d'Or.

"Ousmane triumphed! Congratulations, I'm happy to see you. You deserve it," Messi wrote on Instagram in Dembele's post quoted Tuesday, September 23, 2025.

There is no doubt about the closeness of Messi and Dembele. The two of them played for Barcelona in 2017 to 2021, before La Pulga finally decided to move to PSG.

After Messi's departure to PSG which then continued to move to Inter Miami, Dembele then also chose to leave Barcelona to join Les Parisiens.

At the time of the Ballon d'Or award, the nominations that included Dembele's name were read by football legend Ronaldinho. When Dembele's name was mentioned, the invitees who were present at the Theater du Chatelet, Paris, immediately cheered.

Dembele, who was very moved, couldn't help but cry. He then invited his mother to come up to the stage and thanked him for all the support he had given.

The French player was chosen as the winner of the 2025 Ballon d'Or after showing brilliant performance throughout the 2024/2025 season.

Dembele managed to help PSG win five trophies, including domestic and European trophies. He also recorded 35 goals and 16 assists in all last season.