Revelation of last season, Lamine Yamal (17 years old) logically won the Kopa trophy on the sidelines of the Ballon d'Or ceremony last October. This award distinguishing the best player under the age of 21 is decided by the vote of former Ballon d'Or winners.
Lamine Yamal was chosen 22 times as the best young player out of 23 voters. Among the former glories, only Ronaldo preferred another player. R9 in fact placed his compatriot Savinho in the lead, just ahead of Yamal and Arda Güler.
Messi praises Barcelona
The Brazilian is not the only one to have given in to emotion when voting. Lionel Messi has also put his Catalan and Argentinian affiliation into the balance since Lamine Yamal is well in the lead, ahead of Barcelona's Pau Cubarsi and his teammate in the selection Alejandro Garnacho.
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Winner of the 2018 Ballon d'Or, Luka Modric, still a Real Madrid player, nevertheless slipped the Yamal ballot into the ballot box, just ahead of his teammate Arda Güler and Parisian Joao Neves.
