The UEFA Nations League 2024\/25 semifinal between Spain and France on June 5, 2025, at the MHP Arena in Stuttgart was more than just a battle for a spot in the final. It was a high-stakes showdown between two of football\u2019s brightest stars, Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9, both vying for the prestigious 2025 Ballon d\u2019Or. With Spain securing a thrilling 5-4 victory over France, the question on every football fan\u2019s mind is: who strengthened their case for the coveted award?<\/p>\n
At just 17, Barcelona\u2019s Lamine Yamal stole the show in Stuttgart, scoring twice in Spain\u2019s victory. His first goal came from a penalty in the 53rd minute, followed by a clinical finish in the 67th, capitalizing on a mistake by France\u2019s goalkeeper Mike Maignan. Yamal\u2019s brace and dynamic play outshone his rivals, earning praise from Spain\u2019s coach Luis de la Fuente, who called it a \u201cBallon d\u2019Or statement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9, fresh off a Champions League triumph with PSG, struggled to make an impact. The 27-year-old created chances but failed to score or assist before being substituted in the 76th minute. Despite his impressive season stats\u201435 goals across all competitions\u2014his lackluster performance against Spain didn\u2019t help his Ballon d\u2019Or bid. France coach Didier Deschamps backed Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 pre-match, but Yamal\u2019s dominance shifted the narrative.<\/p>\n
Yamal\u2019s head-to-head victory strengthens his position as a frontrunner. Germany\u2019s Bastian Schweinsteiger echoed this, stating,\u00a0\u201cLamine Yamal has to be put higher than Demb\u00e9l\u00e9\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0for the Ballon d\u2019Or. While Demb\u00e9l\u00e9\u2019s Champions League success keeps him in contention, Yamal\u2019s youth, consistency, and recent heroics give him the edge. With the Ballon d\u2019Or voting covering the entire season and the ceremony set for September 22, 2025, upcoming events like the Club World Cup could still sway voters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The UEFA Nations League 2024\/25 semifinal between Spain and France on June 5, 2025, at the MHP Arena in Stuttgart\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217,"featured_media":36696,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1820,3738,3692],"class_list":["post-15516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-ballon-dor","tag-lamine-yamal","tag-ousmane-dembele"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}