Michael Olise Shines in Munich as Ballon d'Or Debate Intensifies

By the time the final whistle went at the Allianz Arena, the scoreboard said enough: Bayern Munich had torn Berlin apart, and Michael Olise and Harry Kane were at the heart of the demolition.

Olise walked off with the match ball after the first hat-trick of his professional career. Kane left with two more goals to his name and another reminder of why his case for the Ballon d’Or is impossible to ignore.

Both are already on the 30-man shortlist. Both are coming off seasons that pushed them into the elite conversation. On this evidence, neither is going away.

Olise steals the show

Against clearly overmatched visitors, Olise didn’t just score three. He dominated every phase of the game for the full 90 minutes, earning a top mark from SPOX. His movement, his timing, his finishing – everything clicked.

Jamal Musiala had opened the scoring a little over 15 minutes in, but from there Olise took control. By the end, his team-mates were openly raving. Musiala called the Frenchman’s level “outstanding” on Sky, a simple verdict that matched what everyone inside the stadium had just watched.

Bayern coach Vincent Kompany highlighted the work behind the spectacle. Those eye-catching finishes, he said, are no accident.

“Michael scores these goals, but he has also worked a lot on these finishes in training. Even the top players need more than just talent,” Kompany pointed out. The performance felt like a statement – not just for Bayern, but for the Ballon d’Or race.

Eberl: “He belongs among the best”

Sporting director Max Eberl was pushed on that very topic afterwards. At first, he tried to play it down, calling the Ballon d’Or question “difficult” and “a subjective assessment”.

Then he cut through the noise.

“He definitely belongs in the circle of (possible) Ballon d’Or winners too,” Eberl said. Kane, in his eyes, already had “a great chance anyway”, but Olise is forcing his way into that same elite bracket. “Michael is also working his way into that group with the way he plays football. So for me he definitely belongs among the best footballers in the world.”

The campaigning around the Golden Ball has already started elsewhere. Clubs and stars have begun pushing their narratives ahead of the gala on 26 October at the Palladium Theatre in London. Bayern, officially at least, are keeping it cooler.

“There has to be campaigning,” Eberl admitted, before adding a pointed line: “The best players are the ones who do not need campaigning.”

Yamal’s jab and Kane’s answer

The most striking public shot in this year’s debate came from Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal. The world champion, also dreaming of the Golden Ball, spoke to Movistar Plus and delivered a comment many took as a dig at Golden Shoe winner Kane, who hit 73 goals last season.

“The Ballon d’Or should go to the best player in the world, full stop. It should not go to a player who has scored 80 goals,” Yamal said.

He then clarified his view: “If you score 80 goals, you get the season’s top-scorer award. Those are very different things that people do not understand. The best player in the world is the one where, as a commentator, you watch a game and enjoy watching him. He is a player who is different from everyone else.”

Asked about those remarks, Eberl didn’t bite back directly, but his line about “campaigning” hung in the air.

Kane, as ever, stayed measured.

“You do not know exactly how he meant it. People have their own assumptions about it. Ultimately, everyone is different,” he said, refusing to escalate the war of words. “Yamal is an incredible player and had a great season, but so did many others. There are so many players who have had a great season behind them. I think that is why there may be even more discussion about it this year than usual, because there are so many candidates.”

He kept the focus on the pitch, where he is most comfortable.

“Everyone has the right to speak however they want. You know me, I prefer to let my performances on the pitch do the talking for me. I answer on the pitch. I do not like talking a lot about myself, but everyone is different. There is no right or wrong. Others have to judge that. It is not in my hands, but in the hands of the voters.”

Instead of firing back at Yamal, Kane pointed to the body of work he has already put together.

“I am extremely proud of what I achieved last year – not just the goals, but also the titles won, the cup final and the return of the Meisterschale to Munich. All these things – including some of the World Cup matches – will stay with me for the rest of my life. So overall it was simply a fantastic season,” he said.

From Munich to Les Bleus

For Olise, the night against Berlin felt like a launchpad. A hat-trick, a roaring Allianz Arena, his name now firmly dropped into every Ballon d’Or conversation.

The next step comes with a different jersey.

New France coach Zinedine Zidane has called him into his first national-team squad, where Olise will join Bayern colleague Dayot Upamecano. The club form is impossible to ignore. The spotlight is only getting brighter.

Bayern already knew Kane would live in that light. Now Olise is stepping into it too – and the race for the Golden Ball suddenly has a sharper Bavarian edge.