Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé has revealed that a former teammate at La Liga giants Barcelona was the first player to contact on the back of his title as world football’s best player being confirmed.
Frontman Dembélé of course etched his name into the history books of European football earlier this week.
As much came upon the Frenchman securing for himself the 2025 ‘Golden Ball’.
At the Ballon d’Or gala in Paris, Dembélé beat out competition from the likes of Lamine Yamal and Vitinha to scoop the prestigious prize.
Messages of congratulations, in turn, have since come flooding in for the Paris Saint-Germain attacker.
Just who, though, was the first high-profile name to reach out to Dembélé in the aftermath of Monday’s ceremony?
As alluded to above, the 28-year-old has since provided an insight into precisely as much.
Speaking in an interview with France Football, as cited by Mundo Deportivo, Dembélé revealed:
“The first message I received was from Messi.”
Conor Laird – GSFN