Barcelona duo of Raphinha and Lamine Yamal on Tuesday night, saw their Ballon d’Or ambitions fade, after they were eliminated from the Champions League by Inter Milan.
Raphinha and Yamal both shone over both legs, but the Serie A side eventually progressed to the final with a 7-6 aggregate win.
The race for this year’s Ballon d’Or had become a subplot during the Champions League semi-finals.
A lot of observers began to talk up the possibility of Yamal winning it, following his extraordinary performance against Inter at Montjuic.
At the San Siro, the teenager also put in a fantastic shift, completing 14 dribbles but could not beat goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
Raphinha scored what seemed to be the winner, but was otherwise subdued.
Barcelona’s exit means that the path is now clear for Ousmane Dembele to boost his Ballon d’Or bid by leading Paris Saint-Germain past Arsenal at Parc des Princes on Wednesday.
Dembele scored the only goal as the Ligue 1 champions won 1-0 at the Emirates.
But if Arsenal were to progress, Mohamed Salah’s name might even be brought back into the conversation, given his record-breaking exploits in the Premier League would give him an outside shot of victory if he were going up against rivals without a Champions League medal around their necks.
Much, then, will depend on whether Dembele’s PSG reach the final, but Inter’s talismanic captain Lautaro Martinez could have a surprise shot at lifting the European Cup – and maybe the Ballon d’Or too.
