All of the talk surrounding this month’s Ballon d’Or ceremony at the London Palladium is centered around Barcelona and Spain’s Lamine Yamal and Bayern Munich and England’s Harry Kane. By all accounts, the pair of superstars are slated to be the ones duking it out for this year’s prestigious honor, as voting has only recently closed. However, with the way he’s carried on playing exceptionally well for Bayern and just how good he was during the international break for France, Michael Olise’s name has also been in the discussion despite his less realistic chances of winning.
From France’s four UEFA Nations League matches against Turkey, Belgium (twice), and Italy, Olise tallied four goals and two assists, having contributed quite literally to all but one of France’s goals during the international break—which was Désiré Doué’s goal in the 4-1 win over Belgium in Saint-Denis. It’s even more impressive that Olise didn’t even start in all of those matches, as manager Zinedine Zidane rotated his squad across the quartet of fixtures.
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His contributions for Les Bleus add to the eight goals and four assists he’s tallied from seven appearances so far this season for Bayern. All of that, too, comes after a World Cup where he set the record for assists at a single tournament (7). Not to mention, he bagged 22 goals and 31 assists for Bayern last season, was named the Bundesliga’s Player of the Year, and came ever so close to Thomas Müller’s single-season Bundesliga assists record of 21, having bagged 19 himself.
In the post-match press conference after France’s 4-1, come-from-behind win over Belgium at the Stade de France to close out their international break, Zidane was asked by the press whether he feels Olise is currently the best player in the world. Ironically enough, the question was lodged at Zidane on the eve of Lionel Messi playing his last-ever match for Argentina. In an effort to perhaps stave off a slew of follow-up questions, Zidane simply replied, “I have nothing to say. What he’s doing is just exceptional,” while cracking a smile (via @iMiaSanMia).
Zizou might very well believe Olise is the best player in the world right now, but having only just started his tenure as manager of the French national team, he’s leaving the headline-grabbing responses for other people to give the press for the time being.
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