Ousmane Dembélé dismissed "little squabbles" online pitting him and Kylian Mbappé against each other in their quest to win this year's Ballon d'Or. The award will be announced at a ceremony in London on Oct. 26. Dembélé is bidding to win it for a second straight year, while Mbappé has never won it.
"No, nothing. I don't comment on all of these stories," Dembélé said Thursday ahead of France's game against Italy. "I don't comment on little squabbles on social media. At 29 years old, I'm not really thinking about that."
Speculation of a rift started after Mbappé told France Football that he has "always been seen as the chosen one" whereas Dembélé "caught up really well." Dembélé said he spoke about it with Mbappé, but only "because we sit next to each other at the [dinner] table" with the France team.
Mbappé will miss the Italy game at Stade de France with a knee injury, meaning Dembélé captains the side Friday. While he called it "an honor" to wear the armband, Dembélé praised Mbappé's importance, saying "He's scored an enormous amount of goals."
Source: ESPN Soccer · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing