Ousmane Dembele's sensational year was rewarded as he lifted the 2025 Ballon d'Or on Monday. 

Dembele picked up the prestigious individual accolade for the first time in his career, beating off competition from Barcelona duo Lamine Yamal and Raphinha for the top prize. 

The France international was an integral part of Paris Saint-Germain's dominance across Europe in 2024-25, which included their maiden Champions League triumph. 

Luis Enrique's star-studded squad also added the Ligue 1, Coupe de France and Trophee des Champions to their already sizeable trophy cabinet, but the Parisiens now boast the world's best footballer in their ranks. 

Indeed, Dembele has become just the second PSG player to win the Ballon d'Or after eight-time winner Lionel Messi, who picked up his penultimate individual title during his stint in the French capital back in 2021. 

He is the sixth French player to receive the award, after Michel Platini (1983, 1984 and 1985), Raymond Kopa (1958), Jean-Pierre Papin (1991), Zinedine Zidane (1998) and Karim Benzema (2022). 

As Dembele joins an exclusive club of Ballon d'Or winners, we delve into the data behind his exceptional year for PSG. 

Dembele's dazzling year

Dembele recorded 18 goal involvements (six goals, 12 assists) across all competitions in 2023-24, the second-most for PSG behind Kylian Mbappe (54 - 44 goals, 10 assists), with the latter then completing his free transfer to Real Madrid that summer. 

That further put the emphasis on Dembele to lead from the front in the attacking third, though it wasn't until the turn of the year that he started firing on all cylinders, having entered 2025 with just eight goals and five assists to his name. 

Indeed, since the start of the calendar year, only Bayern Munich's Harry Kane (42) has been involved in more goals than Dembele (40) among players across Europe's top five leagues across all competitions. 

Dembele has gone on to register 53 goal contributions (37 goals, 16 assists) since the start of last season across all competitions, which also includes the Club World Cup, where PSG were beaten in the final by Chelsea. 

His tally was the fifth-highest among players from Europe's top five leagues, behind only Kane (69), Mohamed Salah (63), Raphinha (61) and Mbappe (57). 

But it was perhaps in the Champions League that his performances stood out the most. 

He scored eight goals and provided six assists for his team-mates in the competition, the second-most goal involvements by a French player in a single season of the competition after former Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema in 2021-22 (17). 

Dembele continued to impress on PSG's route to the final in Munich, though arguably saved one of his best displays until last during their 5-0 rout of Inter. 

Indeed, the 28-year-old became the first player to provide two assists in a Champions League final since Marcelo for Madrid in 2018, having teed up Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the showpiece match. 

Raphinha, Yamal and Salah fall short

Raphinha, Yamal and Salah can look back on their respective campaigns with pride despite falling short here. 

All three players were integral to Barcelona and Liverpool's respective title-winning seasons, though failing to lift the Champions League crown may have hindered their chances. 

Barcelona appeared destined to face PSG in Munich when pitted against Inter, though a dramatic 7-6 aggregate defeat in the semi-finals of the competition firmly stopped Hansi Flick's goal-scoring machine in their tracks. 

Nevertheless, Raphinha showed up in Europe's elite competition, with his 13 goals and eight assists equalling Cristiano Ronaldo's competition record from 2013-14 of 21 goal involvements in a single Champions League campaign. 

Indeed, only Messi (14 in 2011-12) has scored more goals for Barcelona in a single season in the competition than Raphinha's tally in 2024-25.

While also offering a threat in attack, Raphinha has also been a chief creator for the Blaugrana. Only Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes (174) has created more chances across Europe's top five leagues since the beginning of last season than the Brazilian (165). 

Yamal, meanwhile, built on his breakout tournament during Spain's Euro 2024 triumph to catapult himself amongst the world's elite.

He has recorded 26 goal involvements since the start of the 2024-25 campaign, while also topping the charts across Europe's top five leagues for attempted dribbles (494) and completed dribbles (262). 

And at 17 years and 291 days old, he became the youngest ever scorer in a Champions League semi-final during their first-leg thriller with Inter, surpassing Mbappe's previous record of 18 years and 140 days.

Salah played a starring role in Liverpool's Premier League title success during Arne Slot's first year at Anfield. 

He tied the record for the most goals and assists combined in a single top-flight campaign, with 47, joining Andrew Cole in 1993-94 and Alan Shearer the following season.

The Egyptian has since surpassed Cole in the all-time Premier League scoring charts, and is now fourth on that list with 188 goals.