The votes cast by the various Ballon d'Or winners who took part in the Kopa Trophy voting process have now been made public. Lamine Yamal claimed the award for the third consecutive time, finishing ahead of Pau Cubarsí in a result that cannot be fully understood without considering the influence of Lionel Andrés Messi. The Argentine played a major role in determining the final podium.
Lamine Yamal left London on October 26 feeling disappointed. Many had considered him the frontrunner for the Ballon d'Or following an extraordinary season with Barcelona and his triumph at the FIFA World Cup with Spain. However, the Barcelona forward ultimately had to settle for a third consecutive Kopa Trophy. His victory over Pau Cubarsí cannot be fully understood without considering Lionel Messi's role in the story.
The Inter Miami captain was among the players selected by France Football to vote for the award. As a multiple Ballon d'Or winner, Messi was given the opportunity to distribute votes among the best under-21 players in the world. Lamine Yamal was nominated after winning the previous two editions. He eventually secured victory by just two points over his Barcelona teammate.
The final standings saw Lamine Yamal finish with 96 points, compared with Cubarsí's 94. Lionel Messi became part of the story when his voting choices were revealed: the Argentine awarded five points to the right winger and three to the centre-back. If he had done the opposite, it would have been Pau who would have been crowned the world's best under-21 player of the previous season.
The third player on Lionel Messi's personal podium was Bayer Leverkusen's Ibrahim Maza. He has been one of the biggest talents in European football over recent months and could even move to Paris Saint-Germain in January following Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's devastating injury. Five points for Yamal, three for Cubarsí and one for Maza: these were the votes Messi cast in the latest edition of the Kopa Trophy.
"It is an honour to be here and receive this award. This is my third year up here receiving this trophy. I would like to thank my club and my national team. I would have liked to see my teammate Cubarsí here because I believe this award should have gone to him. He has been playing at an excellent level for a long time”, Yamal said as he received the award for the world's best under-21 player in London.
It is worth remembering that, at just 19 years old, Yamal will still be eligible for another nomination next season. To achieve that, he will need to maintain the kind of numbers he has produced over the last two seasons and once again earn the support of some of football's most iconic Ballon d'Or winners.