Ballon d'Or, Clásico and Frenkie

Opinion piece on the Ballon d'Or snub for World Cup winners, Barcelona's late-game struggles under Flick, and fan criticism of Frenkie de Jong's return.

The author argues that while the World Cup has historically been decisive for Ballon d'Or winners, this year's award to Harry Kane over World Cup-winning candidates like Rodri, Fabián and Dani Olmo is defensible. However, Mbappé's second-place finish is harder to justify given his lack of collective success and questionable on-pitch behaviour—his goals at Real Madrid ultimately served no purpose.

Four days after the Clásico, the author reflects on Barcelona's painful 87th-minute defeat, drawing parallels to their PSG match where a 2-2 draw became 3-2 after Lamine's equaliser. While respecting Flick's attacking mentality and philosophy of always chasing victory, the author suggests there's merit in occasionally prioritising not losing over winning.

The piece concludes by defending Frenkie de Jong against boos from a minority of Barcelona fans when he entered in the final 20 minutes. The author notes that Flick's immediate faith in De Jong—deploying him after weeks out—shows the manager's confidence, and that booing the player amounts to booing the manager's decision. De Jong should be accepted as the regular partner to the untouchable Rodri-Pedri pairing when fit.