Lamine Yamal had a performance for the ages on Saturday afternoon, as Barcelona shredded Villarreal 4-1 behind the first hat trick of the 18 year old right winger’s career, dominating the third best team in Spanish football in the process.
Here are the latest updated 2026 Ballon d’Or Power Rankings after Yamal’s fleet footed, clinical goal fest against the Yellow Submarine.
5. Real Madrid CF Kylian Mbappe
Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe is currently out with a left knee injury that has been slowing him down for several weeks, and after aggravating the injury further, Real have shut the Frenchman down.
But he is still having an incredible season as the star man for Madrid, scoring 23 goals with 2.7 dribbles completed and 2.3 key passes per game, ranking him second behind only Yamal on this top five Ballon d’Or list in terms of dribbling.
4. Inter Milan LM Federico Dimarco
Federico Dimarco deserves way more credit than he is getting for being one of the best players on the planet, and after Inter Milan’s horrid showing against Bodo Glimt in the Champions League, the Nerazzurri got back to their dominant ways in Serie A with Dimarco’s beautiful opener fueling an easy win over Genoa.
Now, Dimarco has 6 goals and a whopping 14 assists as a left sided midfielder and wing back, all the while averaging 1.7 tackles per game with some excellent one on one defending.
The Italian international is putting up three key passes per game and is one of the best crossers of the ball in the world, making it all look too easy out wide. His deliveries and volleys create goals from nothing.
3. Bayern Munich RW Michael Olise
Michael Olise is one of the most thrilling and satisfying players to watch in world football, and he and Bayern Munich are coming off a big win over their own, effectively sealing the Bundesliga title at the Signal Iduna Park with a 3-2 win over Borussia Dortmund.
With 10 goals and 16 assists this season, the Frenchman is closer to the Ballon d’Or than everyone thinks, and he is also filling up the stat sheet as one of the workhorses of this insane Bayern team with 2.7 key passes and 2.1 dribbles completed per game.
2. Barcelona RW Lamine Yamal
No player is anywhere close to Lamine Yamal in terms of dribbles completed per game, as he is averaging an insane 5.1, nigh uncatchable and nearly 2.5 dribbles completed per game ahead of Mbappe who is second on this list – that is more than a full Olise in terms of dribbling output.
After the hatty against Villarreal, Yamal is on 13 goals and 9 assists, and you just know if he got to work with Kane instead of Ferran Torres as his main striker, he’d have double that number and clear Olise in the assists column. As it stands, Yamal is averaging the most key passes per game of all these players besides Dimarco with 2.8.
He even defends almost as well as Dimarco, too, which is something people forget. In the Hansi Flick system, Yamal is putting up 1.5 tackles per game. This kid isn’t the next Lionel Messi; he’s the first Lamine Yamal.
1. Bayern Munich ST Harry Kane
With 30 goals this season in the Bundesliga and yet another marquee Der Klassiker victory filled with playmaking passes deep in his own half and dogged defending, Harry Kane is only adding to his legend in the 2025/26 season as a true all-around unicorn in that rarified Karim Benzema bracket of complete No. 9 play.
The counting stats of dribbles completed and key passes per game are all solid but still fail to do justice to Kane, whose finishing and footballing intellect are truly peaking now at the refined age of 32.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling.