# Ronaldo and Nuno Mendes Deny Lamine Yamal the Ballon d'OR

An episode of [The Real Deal: A Real Madrid Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1807821669), 8 Jun 2025, 17 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/103607aa8/podcast/play/103841507/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-5-8%2F401803388-44100-2-c931f9b4b6758.mp3

Sid reacts to Portugal's stunning victory in the Nations League Final and discusses Lamine's surprisingly weak statistical case for Ballon d'Or.

## Transcript

[1:05] What's going on, everyone? Welcome to the Real deal.
[1:07] Let me just throw myself up here.
[1:10] It's a big episode today where we go over the great victory of
[1:14] Cristiano Ronaldo over Lamine Yamal to save us from this
[1:19] garbage narrative that Ronaldo is the best player or something.
[1:23] That he's the only one or sorry that Lamine is the best player,
[1:27] that he needs to win the Balandor, that he needs to be
[1:31] the best player, that his at 17, that he's been this great God,
[1:35] that nobody else in football has seen Ronaldo put an end to it.
[1:38] We are here to react. I've been dreading this day for
[1:41] some time and tis this morning when I looked at the stats guys,
[1:45] I was just shocked. Lamine averages .69 expected
[1:48] goals plus expected assisted goals per 90.69.
[1:53] So essentially he is not only like, like he's not special.
[2:00] I don't know how to say it, but like Minusius last season is at
[2:02] .77 expected goals plus assists for 90.
[2:05] And coming into this, the narrative, the way people were
[2:07] talking about Lamine, I thought he's inevitable.
[2:09] Going to be honest, guys, when you're the best player in the
[2:11] world, I feel like you get close to 1 expected goal, one expected
[2:15] assist for 90. That's usually what we're going
[2:18] for. Messi, Ronaldo, Suarez, Neymar,
[2:22] when you Bale, when you look at their best years, I'll pull up
[2:24] Bale. They're always at a certain
[2:27] threshold statistically. And it just stood out to me that
[2:29] none of the Balandor winners or contenders this year, they all
[2:33] have huge holes in terms of their case.
[2:36] So I just want to RIP into Lamin's Balandor case.
[2:39] Before I even review the game, I just want to talk about some of
[2:41] his stats. He's at .69 expected goals and
[2:43] assists for 90. He's at 13 progressive passes
[2:46] received and 65 touches per game.
[2:49] Let's compare that to Vinicius last season, he was at 49
[2:52] touches per game. He was at 10 progressive passes
[2:55] received. Why is this a big difference?
[2:57] Because the reason Yamal is getting such crazy end product
[3:00] in my opinion partly is because Ponzi Flick's system feeds them
[3:05] the ball. So with Hansi Flick feeding them
[3:07] the ball, runners always going fast, they don't play defensive
[3:11] possession at all. Their possession is purely to
[3:13] hurt you. So the mean from what I've been
[3:15] watching this season has the most options of like any winger,
[3:19] the attack is so dynamic and part of that is him being given
[3:22] the keys. It's on flick saying, hey
[3:24] everyone, when Lamine gets the ball, you guys make runs.
[3:27] But Lamine himself, I thought he was at like 1 expected goal plus
[3:31] his for 90. Like I said, when you go back
[3:32] through the start of the season, when you go to the very
[3:37] beginning, September, October, his stats were ridiculous.
[3:40] They were very high. They were off the charts.
[3:42] But it's normalized over the season and I know Lamine has
[3:44] played fifty 90s to Vinicius is 34 last season.
[3:48] But I just want people to get out of here with this idea that
[3:50] Lemine is the undisputed best player in the world.
[3:53] You know, going off big game performances and consistency.
[3:56] Like he didn't win the Champions League.
[3:57] I know he played well against Inter, but they didn't make it
[3:59] over the line because they played so offensively against
[4:02] Inter. And that's the whole point.
[4:03] They play a style of play that's a trade off that lets Lemine
[4:06] shine. On top of that you have the
[4:08] Spain team that are amazing and it felt like all the
[4:12] circumstances of coaches person all around him were converging.
[4:15] With that being said, Lamine is nowhere near Messi yet he's
[4:19] played fifty 90s. Messi did not get to 50 nineties
[4:22] until 2014 fifty in per football reference.
[4:25] Even if you look at like whereabouts of 50, he wasn't
[4:28] hitting fifty or getting close to 50 till later in his career.
[4:31] So you're hoping that Lamine develops, continues to develop
[4:35] while playing so much game time 1/2.
[4:37] When you look at Lamine in terms of his expected goals, .36 or
[4:42] .32 per 90 this year in all competitions for Football
[4:45] Reference, he's at .36 goals per 90.
[4:48] So that's a small gap. Messi's whole career is just
[4:52] only getting on the end of like .5 to .6.
[4:54] Expected goals were the chances, and then he's scoring .8 to one
[4:59] goal from that. He's turning lemons into
[5:00] lemonade. Lamin could get there.
[5:03] He's only young and he has the sort of problem solving you'd
[5:06] expect from someone so young to be able to develop that.
[5:09] But he's played 59. These guys.
[5:10] If he's not going to rest, he's not getting there.
[5:12] I honestly don't think playing every week until you get injured
[5:15] is how you develop. I think development happens with
[5:18] rest. I mean, this is well known
[5:20] anytime you go to the gym, if you don't sleep well, how are
[5:22] you going to recover for the next day?
[5:23] This is no different. And it's very similar in the
[5:26] sense that playing too many games hurts your recovery
[5:28] capacity, hurts your capacity to grow, hurts your ability to
[5:31] learn. So there's that.
[5:33] Just wanted to put it out that Yamal Balandor case was weak.
[5:37] The other candidates are weak in different ways, and Bape did not
[5:40] play well in the fall if you count him as a candidate.
[5:42] And I feel like the fact that we had to accommodate him for half
[5:45] the season takes away from his case.
[5:47] He plundered the numbers down the stretch, but you do want to
[5:49] give it to someone who's scoring when the season still matters.
[5:53] And I know he scored a hat trick in the Classico, but at that
[5:55] point I feel like the case needed to be started to be made
[5:58] in October, November and we didn't win the Champions League.
[6:01] Then you go to Usman Dembele. The dude literally sits at home
[6:04] and orders Uber eats every other week like he played 19 league
[6:08] 90s. You're telling me the best
[6:10] player in the world can play every other week in your
[6:13] domestic league? That just tells me you are
[6:15] seriously advantage and that maybe he doesn't matter as much
[6:17] to your team as you think. Maybe he was just the most
[6:20] important player or the guy with the most end product on your
[6:22] team. Then we go to Lamine, which I
[6:26] already broke down and I think the strongest case for Balandor,
[6:30] it's tricky because he's not playing in the Club World Cup
[6:32] would be most. Salah scored in a very tough
[6:34] Premier League. I think that's the hardest
[6:36] competition. I think the Premier League was
[6:38] harder than the Liga. This year was a brutal league
[6:42] and they were in a bit of a transition year.
[6:44] I thought Salah did it. So yeah, that's that's the case.
[6:48] Now let's just go quickly to the post game review.
[6:51] Going into this game, very hard to see a pat to Portugal
[6:54] winning. It's a lot like England in the
[6:56] Euro final last year, last year going to the game.
[7:00] England are talented just like this Portugal team.
[7:02] But Spain are just scoring for fun.
[7:04] And there's something about the way their coach takes the hand
[7:07] brakes off that lets them go all in.
[7:09] But Lecante was pointing out something interesting in the
[7:12] pregame and he was pointing it out during the game too on
[7:14] Twitter, which is that Pedri coming off for Spain was kind of
[7:18] big for them last year when he got hurt against Germany or
[7:20] whatever in that, even though he's been played closer to goal,
[7:24] that all started with Chavi. I was just talking to my little
[7:26] brother, Barcelona fan. Chavi had to play Pedri closer
[7:30] to goal because Chavi wanted more problem solving in your
[7:34] goal. Chavi also didn't know how to
[7:36] create chances without putting all his best decision makers in
[7:38] your goal. That's just a typical thing you
[7:40] fall back on if you don't know what you're doing offensively.
[7:43] So Chabi puts Pedri near goal and then I think maybe that kind
[7:47] of transfers into the de la Fuentes thinking where Pedri's
[7:49] playing the 10, but they look better with Pedri off because
[7:53] Pedri's conservative today. We did see that play out as well
[7:56] outside the 20 minutes of the first half where pretty much
[8:00] going into Spain's goal. Spain didn't play well the whole
[8:03] game. And you could argue some of that
[8:04] was maybe not being as incisive because Lamine was getting
[8:07] attacked by Nuno Mendes and they had a lot of attention on him.
[8:10] Pedri, I thought if you put an East Coast there, you get maybe
[8:14] a better outcome. And what's interesting is that
[8:16] at halftime, Spain were way better.
[8:19] Even though they were only good for 20 minutes.
[8:21] Statistically, we see they had 1.6 expected goals to Portugal's
[8:26] .12 at halftime, seven shots to two, two shots on target to one
[8:30] for Portugal, 58% possession. So at halftime, even going in at
[8:34] 21, I wasn't 100% sure. Like I wasn't 100% sure if
[8:40] Portugal had anything to turn the game around at that point
[8:42] just because like 1, the expected goals looks horrible.
[8:45] I'm like, hey, you guys played well.
[8:47] Like you controlled Spain and yet you created nothing at half
[8:49] outside that new no wonder strike.
[8:51] So I was worried, but Spain kind of seemed to get tired.
[8:53] And that's where just looking at the results for the last five
[8:57] games, captain Guardiola on Twitter pointed it out.
[8:59] They've conceded goal after goal.
[9:01] They don't know how to maintain leads as much.
[9:03] You know, we saw against France even before Cherokee came on,
[9:06] they were not as solid defensively.
[9:07] Then Cherokee came, applied to finishing touches, brought
[9:09] momentum, but they were struggling.
[9:11] And so I guess it was a Spain that's not as dominant as during
[9:16] their euro run too. You can't go and say that
[9:18] Portugal beat the typical dominant Spain team.
[9:20] However, I would argue that a lot of it did come down to Nuno
[9:25] Mendez. Roberto Martinez did enough, but
[9:26] as Spain got tired and Eastco wasn't playing the best like
[9:31] minutes with Yamal, when if you got maybe the more incisive
[9:34] Eastco next to Yamal early, maybe you create more and kill
[9:37] the game. You don't kill the game and
[9:38] Portugal have more energy, they come back in it.
[9:42] And from there we got to just talk about that Cristiano goal.
[9:45] Like it was so iconic to see him celebrating with Lamine in the
[9:48] background. It was a cool moment just cuz
[9:50] like again, half time the expected goals makes me think if
[9:53] that was a good half to my eye, what is going on on the pitch?
[9:55] Are we screwed? And then it's 22 and I feel like
[9:58] Spain literally did not have much of a shot to win the game
[10:01] from there. Don't have the expected goals
[10:03] for the full game. I'm just going off my eye test,
[10:05] but Portugal take control of the game energetically and just
[10:08] going into penalties. I felt like at that point the
[10:10] momentum's with Portugal because Spain know they shouldn't should
[10:13] have killed the game And on top of that dude, something about
[10:15] the second I saw Morata step up, I just saw him.
[10:18] I was watching it with Barcelona fan, my brother just a penalty
[10:20] shootout and I immediately turned to my brother and I
[10:23] laughed. I'm like, oh, look who's taking
[10:24] it because it's like firstly, Portugal took first, so they're
[10:27] up 4 three and then Morata walks up.
[10:29] So Spain have to score both Portugal need one.
[10:32] And even if Portugal miss, if Spain miss, you know, margin for
[10:34] error. So I see Morata's face.
[10:36] I laugh. And there was that there.
[10:39] I just want to say there's something special about when
[10:41] Ronaldo gets injured in an international tournament final
[10:44] and his team goes on to win. I feel like it it's an omen for
[10:48] a golden era. And that's what I feel like
[10:51] we're I really get the summer 16 vibes.
[10:52] It's the beginning of a good time at Real Madrid.
[10:55] I know our boy Dean Hudson lost. I just want to point him out he
[10:59] was ridiculous. Again.
[11:00] I I think everything I saw in this game is just optimism for
[11:03] Real Madrid in the future and happy that Lamine got humbled a
[11:05] little because Hudson was phenomenal.
[11:07] He was arguably Spain's best player in possession.
[11:11] Ball caring was off the charts. I didn't notice this
[11:13] statistically but 1.5 progressive carries is
[11:17] ridiculous. He averages 1.5.
[11:19] Ramos averaged .7 to .8 and Ramos for me was still one of
[11:22] the most like all rounded left sided right footed center backs
[11:26] to put build out of the back. He was amazing at the long
[11:29] switches of play and he started as a right back.
[11:32] This is a different level. Football has evolved so much now
[11:35] players are just so much faster and like the attackers are now,
[11:41] the skills of attackers are being given to defenders and so
[11:44] defenders have to build up more. And so even the like the latest
[11:48] premium model of a ball playing defender you find is kind of
[11:51] ridiculous compared to what we know before.
[11:53] So very happy to see what Dean did.
[11:56] There were times when I felt like they tried forcing it down
[11:58] the Amal side, but frankly, Spain found more success playing
[12:02] through Dean and Nico on the left this time.
[12:04] And a lot of that is done at Nuno Mendez.
[12:07] What a performance by him. People were pointing out that
[12:10] like it's hard to see such a two way full back and I agree.
[12:13] Like this was like a peak Marcelo game, like the best
[12:17] games for Marcelo where his winger would be locked down and
[12:19] he'd create and that wasn't every time as we know, but there
[12:22] were occasions where it would happen.
[12:23] No, no, we got the full package. He literally did not put a foot
[12:26] wrong on defense. He looked like Ferland Mendy and
[12:28] Marcelo like mixed like the the defense of Mendy and the offense
[12:31] of Marcelo or something. It was ridiculous.
[12:33] And man, the goal was amazing. The assist was amazing.
[12:37] The Cristiano was hyping him up before the tournament and I
[12:40] think he knew he's Cristiano's always like been one day in my
[12:43] opinion, like kind of hype up the fullback he needs.
[12:45] Like he was friends with Joel Cantelo over at Juventus.
[12:48] Obviously he loved Marcelo. Marcelo unlocked him from 2014
[12:51] to 18, even though his dribbling cut back.
[12:53] And here he knew Nuno would have to probably lock down Yamal and
[12:57] call game. And you know, Nuno, Nuno called
[12:59] game here and against Germany. He just went and cooked.
[13:02] So very proud of Nuno Mendez. Also want to point out, you
[13:06] know, Spain have a lot of players, but man, Portugal now
[13:09] with some of these PSG guys winning, like they're so
[13:13] stacked. Joao Neves, you already have the
[13:15] Diaz you have. You already have Ruben Diaz and
[13:18] Bernardo Bernardo's not always look great, but when you pair
[13:22] that with the Nuno Mendez, the Joao Neves at right back and so
[13:26] on, you get a lot more control. I thought in possession,
[13:30] Portugal were as good as they could be.
[13:31] They tried out of possession, struggled at points in the first
[13:34] half. Once Spain got tired, it wasn't
[13:36] less of a problem. So really happy with the way
[13:40] that game turned out, really happy with Cristiano and winning
[13:44] that game. Those were most of my thoughts,
[13:46] guys, solo. I'm just thinking if there's
[13:48] anything else miscellaneous. Oh yeah, Real Madrid going
[13:51] forward. I just want to say, yeah, it's
[13:53] just, I remember 2016. This just feels so 2016 to me.
[13:58] It's like summer 2016. Sixteen all over again.
[14:02] I'm going to throw that on because essentially that summer
[14:05] we're going in with like in January of 16, everything's
[14:09] looking down. We win the Champions League,
[14:10] then Ronaldo gets his Euro, Messi loses that Copa final,
[14:13] which has Real Madrid fans. You know, we're all before that
[14:16] and then we go on to win the league in the Champions League
[14:19] that year and we have to Don. This feels a bit like that,
[14:22] except the coach is changing in the summer, but the same vibe of
[14:25] like, you know, Ronaldo international victory is just
[14:28] setting the tone for what's going to be a fun summer.
[14:31] Watching Dean is really what gave me some of that confidence.
[14:34] I know the Steeler news is that he's not as likely to sign.
[14:37] And I'm telling you all, like we said on the previous episode, go
[14:40] check our lives like Dean and Trent and even Carreras.
[14:43] Who will sign? The question seems to be if we
[14:45] can get enough money over the line before the Club World Cup.
[14:49] So the deadline's tomorrow. If he signs, great.
[14:52] And I'm assuming he signs no matter what.
[14:54] In that scenario, we have enough problem solving in build up.
[14:57] It's cool to see how defenders can do some of the same
[15:01] provocative things that Cruz did.
[15:03] To be honest, Cruz dropped into the back line to do the things
[15:05] he did. If you got I mean like he was in
[15:07] the left back zone that Dean operates out of.
[15:09] So that's why I actually think I'm going to say Dean is the
[15:13] crony Cruz replacement for our team.
[15:14] He he showed that today, like he's going to play in the same
[15:19] zone. He's going to be circulating
[15:20] from that zone. He has the range to circulate
[15:22] from that zone. It won't be the same volume
[15:24] because he's a center back. But the reality is even if it
[15:26] becomes unusually high volume, it literally because like he
[15:29] protects that way because 50 passes completed for Vernemith
[15:32] come over here is probably another 10-15.
[15:34] And then if you add another like we're getting 10-15 more, we're
[15:38] at 70 to 75 passes for 90 then you or sorry, 60 to 65.
[15:42] If a coach then adds 10 more to that, we're looking at a very
[15:45] high volume play making center back.
[15:47] And it's cool because he does it from the left side as a right
[15:49] footer. That is rare.
[15:51] Again, that's the wrong most quality in comparison.
[15:53] I was making along with his height, but that's where you
[15:55] know, he's a better carrier. He's he's just in a more modern
[15:58] game and he's not as fast probably.
[16:00] I'm not as worried about that just because he seems to read
[16:03] the game so well. And I think Alonzo will cover
[16:05] for him. We have athletes all over the
[16:07] pitch up front and that's where, you know, Fete Chuomeni and Camo
[16:09] Vingo can cover for these guys. Trent and Dean are going to
[16:12] create now. It's it's the same way like Camo
[16:15] Vingo Chuomeni Fete would help cover for Cruz and Madridge and
[16:17] Cruz and Madridge would drop like, you know, our problem
[16:20] solvers need to come near the ball.
[16:22] It doesn't matter what line of play they play in, as long as
[16:24] they're good playmakers and have vision of the field.
[16:27] That's what Dean brings. And it was that's where it was a
[16:29] dream seeing Lamal Yamal get locked up.
[16:31] But our boy Dean Cook seeing pedry playing and Isco not
[16:35] starting potentially be a tactical mistake.
[16:38] Music to my ears, music to my ears, 300 fans.
[16:41] So I think I've pretty much covered everything I want to
[16:44] talk today. This is AI know this is a super
[16:46] solo mini podcast and I know there could be more to be done,
[16:49] but I just wanted to come and celebrate.
[16:51] Cristiano did it again. See you all day.
[16:55] Thank you all for tuning in for this show.
[16:56] We'll be back this week with more formal episodes.
[16:58] It's just a fun reaction. Everything is getting better.
[17:01] This is probably my last episode without my official studio setup
[17:04] and glow up coming in. So thank you all for tuning in.
[17:08] Peace out.

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