Pedri – in the top 11 of the "Ballon d'Or": the "Barcelona" star is conquering the world of football

At the "Ballon d'Or 2025" gala, Tenerife-born footballer Pedri González confirmed his status as one of the leading stars in world football. Although he finished 11th in the voting, the Barcelona and Spain player has definitively established himself among the best.

Pedri, who will soon turn 23 (his birthday is on Thursday), has moved into the top tier of football. The 24/25 season proves this: 69 matches for club and country (62 in the starting lineup), 7 goals and 10 assists in over 5,100 minutes on the pitch.

The boy from Tegueste was already on the rise after winning Euro 2024 with the national team under Luis de la Fuente. He was a key player in the group stage, but a tough tackle from Kroos knocked him out of the quarter-finals. Unfortunately, he was unable to play in the semi-final against France and the final against England. But even without him in the crucial matches, Spain won the title, and Pedri received recognition on the continent. He was moving in the right direction.

This was confirmed under Hansi Flick. Barça in the 24/25 season, who narrowly missed out on winning the Champions League, impressed the world with their bold, attacking style, the talent of Lamine Yamal and the persistence of Raphinha. But we should not forget Pedri, who conducted the team's game like a true maestro. He may not have been the best player, but he was certainly the most important for Barcelona's cohesive play. He was named man of the match eight times (six times in La Liga and twice in the Champions League) and was also named La Liga Player of the Month in April. He received the award on the day of the "clásico" and celebrated it with a resounding victory over Real Madrid (4-3).

Pedri was named in the La Liga Team of the Season, won the Copa del Rey (scoring in the final against Real Madrid), La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup. And most importantly, he finally got rid of the injuries that had plagued him since his second season at Barça. In his first season at Barcelona (20/21), at the age of 18, Pedri played 66 games for club and country and did not stop in the summer. He reached the semi-finals of the European Championship and won silver at the Olympic Games. This took its toll, and he subsequently began to suffer muscle injuries that limited his appearances: only 20 starts in the 21/22 season and 27 in the 23/24 season, Xavi Hernández's last season. In the 22/23 season, in which he played 41 matches, Barcelona won La Liga (his first) and the Cup.

Another Tenerife native, Julio Tous, the current head of physical preparation at Barcelona, played an important role in his recovery. After a genetic study of the athlete in a laboratory in Baltimore, USA, Barcelona completely changed its approach to the player's care. Tous and rehabilitation specialist Raúl Martínez developed a special plan that includes three daily workouts in a gym equipped in the player's home, Pilates, ice baths in the morning and recovery in a hyperbaric chamber (a special capsule to accelerate tissue recovery thanks to pure oxygen).

At the end of January this year, when Pedri extended his contract until 2030 with the club he had always dreamed of, he became a happy footballer again. "I haven't felt this good in a long time. I'm enjoying the football I love the most. Now we have to repay that trust to the club on the pitch. Play as well as possible and win titles, which is what this Barça is made for. I think we have a good team, a very young team that will be even better in a few years. Barcelona fans have a lot of great things to look forward to," he said at the time.

Nine months later, after winning La Liga, the Cup, reaching the Champions League semi-finals and many outstanding performances, Pedri has entered the list of the best players in the world. Only Vitinha and England's Cole Palmer, the latter quite controversially, are ahead of him in the rankings. As for the awards from France Football, Pedri is already the best player from the Canary Islands in history. Previously, only David Silva made the preliminary list in 2011.

This Monday, Pedri added an honourable 11th place to his list of achievements. In 2021, after his first season at Barça, he received the Kopa Trophy as the best player under 23 on the planet (also awarded by France Football at the Ballon d'Or gala) and was 24th in the absolute list (the best Spaniard). In 2023, he was third in the Kopa, which was won by Jude Bellingham.

In addition to awards, Pedri is respected by Barcelona fans. He was valued by Joni Vega, who invited him to Las Palmas, and Pepe Mel, who gave him a chance in the first team of the "yellows" and said of him: "He is a millionaire and doesn't know it." Koeman also immediately noticed his talent when he took him to the first pre-season training camp with Barça. At first, it was thought that he was on probation, but after a couple of weeks, the Dutchman warned in the press centre: "All the young players can go on loan, except Pedri." Later, the coach said that Pedri was already "brilliant", but in five years he would be one of the best midfielders in the world. And he was not mistaken.

Luis Enrique placed a big bet on him at Euro 2020 and did not hold back after being eliminated by Italy in the semi-finals. "What Pedri does... I've never seen anything like it, not even in Iniesta," he claimed. Xavi Hernández, who replaced Koeman as coach at the Camp Nou, admitted that he realised that Pedri could not be taught "anything" in just a couple of training sessions. "I haven't seen a player like him in the world," he concluded later.

Praise, praise and more praise. Some are indirect, such as the connection that Messi established with him in a Barcelona that was already declining. The Argentinian respected Pedri as an equal, as he once did Xavi or Iniesta. Other praises are spoken aloud: from Toni Kroos, a legend of Real Madrid, who recently called him "the best midfielder in the world", or from Paul Scholes, a legendary United player, who after Barcelona's victory over Newcastle wrote on his social networks: "My new favourite player", accompanying it with a photo of Pedri. The most famous footballer from Tenerife before him, Pedro Rodríguez (whom he will find it difficult to surpass in terms of trophies), said with "pride" that he would give him this "Ballon d'Or".

Not yet 23 years old, Pedri is already wearing the captain's armband for Barcelona. He wore it, despite everything, in matches against Valencia and Getafe. This is his fifth season with Barcelona, and despite two seasons marred by injuries, he has already played 207 official matches in the blaugrana shirt. At his age, only Lionel Messi, the most successful in history with 778 appearances, has worn the Barcelona shirt more often.