Bonmatí scoops top honour for third successive year
Sarina Wiegman and Hannah Hampton win awards
On a breathlessly glitzy night in Paris Ousmane Dembélé won the men’s Ballon d’Or, a moment of triumph that brought a fevered Théâtre du Châtelet to its feet and led to scenes of pyrotechnic celebration among the Paris Saint-Germain fans massed outside on the banks of the Seine.
Victory in the top men’s award was a reflection both of PSG’s Champions League triumph and Dembélé’s own stellar form since Christmas. The vote also represents a startling turnaround in his own footballing arc, almost exactly 12 months on from being left out of the PSG squad to play Arsenal after a heated argument with his manager during a game at Rennes.
A subsequent tactical switch by Luis Enrique, moving Dembélé into the centre, led to an explosion of 25 goals in 20 games from December to March, a run of form his manager put down to something his star attacker must have eaten over Christmas.
