Harry Kane coldly conquers Mbappe and Yamal: how he defied expectations and snatched the Ballon d'Or

Harry Kane has walked through the grandest doors in English football, becoming the first player from his country to win the Ballon d'Or since Michael Owen in 2001. The 25-year wait is over. England's name is back at the sharp end of the game's most prestigious individual prize.

The Bayern Munich striker is now the fifth Englishman to claim the award. Stanley Matthews took it in 1956, Bobby Charlton in 1966 and Kevin Keegan in both 1978 and 1979. Kane joins them with a different story, one built on goals, consistency and the ability to produce across more than one competition.

British winners stretch beyond England, too. Scotland's Denis Law won it in 1964 and Northern Ireland's George Best followed in 1968, two more names who left their mark on the award's history.

France's Kylian Mbappé finished second, the Real Madrid striker edged out at the top. Spain's Lamine Yamal took third, the Barcelona teenager forcing his way into the conversation on the back of his remarkable talent and heavy influence for the Catalans.

Kane could hardly believe it. Speaking to DAZN, he said: "Many people did not expect me to get here, and perhaps I myself did not expect to reach this level".

"I went through a lot of ups and downs, especially at the start of my career," he added. "I was never that player people considered a budding big star, as is the case with some players today".

The England captain went on: "I had to be patient and work hard. On many occasions I had to fight a battle with myself, and I had to overcome that through self-belief and determination".

That journey, he explained, kept him humble and grounded even at the summit of the game. He pointed to a relentless hunger to develop and improve as one of the biggest factors behind his rise.

Fans and media were not the only ones celebrating. Thomas Tuchel, the England manager, hailed his captain's crowning as "a great honour".

Prince William joined the praise for the former Tottenham Hotspur striker, calling him "a wonderful captain and an exceptional player", a nod to the standing Kane now holds both inside and outside English football.

Harry Kane's Ballon d'Or did not come down to impressions or popularity. It rested on a set of scoring figures so extraordinary that they left his rivals trailing last season, one of the finest individual campaigns of his professional career.

The England striker scored 61 goals in 51 matches in a Bayern Munich shirt last season, a club record for a single campaign. No other player in Europe's five major leagues came close, with Kane outscoring his nearest challenger by 19 goals.

Put that in perspective. Kane matched the tally Cristiano Ronaldo managed with Real Madrid 11 years ago, when the Portuguese also hit 61 in a single season. That puts the England striker alongside one of the most prolific goalscorers the game has ever seen.

At home in the Bundesliga, Kane topped the scoring charts with 36 goals, a full 17 clear of his closest rival. The gap says everything about his dominance over the rest, and his knack for turning chances into goals week after week.

He added 14 in the Champions League, driving Bayern Munich to the semi-finals, though the team fell short of the final and the continental crown.

Ten more came in the German Cup, three of them in the final as Bayern beat Stuttgart 3-0. Kane also chipped in with a goal in the German Super Cup.

So he never confined his scoring to one competition. Kane imposed himself across every tournament he played in, delivering the kind of numbers that made him the beating heart of the Bavarian attack, according to "BBC Sport".

Those figures carry even greater weight when set against Bayern Munich's history. Legendary strikers have worn the shirt over the years, from Gerd Müller and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge through to Robert Lewandowski, who left his own exceptional mark on the club's scoring record.

Even so, Kane surpassed them all in a single season. He became the first Bayern Munich player to win the Ballon d'Or since Rummenigge in 1981, returning the award to the Bavarian giant's trophy cabinet after a long absence.

Kane's numbers did not stop at Bayern Munich. Add his England goals to the pile and his season total climbs to 73, alongside eight assists in 65 matches for club and country.

Twelve of those goals came for England, six of them at the World Cup. That proved his brilliance was not tied to the German club alone, but travelled with him onto the international stage.

Such a tally lands the England striker on an exceptional list of the greatest scorers the game has seen. Only Lionel Messi has gone higher in a single season across Europe's major leagues, netting 82 goals for Barcelona and Argentina in 2011-2012.

Gerd Müller managed 72 in 1972-1973. Cristiano Ronaldo hit 66 in both 2011-2012 and 2014-2015, a figure Brazil's Ronaldo also reached back in 1996-1997.

Norway's Erling Haaland belongs on that list too, with 64 in 2022-2023, as does Uruguay's Luis Suárez, who matched it in 2015-2016.

Put it all side by side and Kane did not simply enjoy a good season. He brushed up against historic numbers, the kind tied to names that reshaped modern football, and that gives his individual case serious weight in the Ballon d'Or race.

Alan Shearer, the former England striker, backed Kane for the award, telling BBC Sport: "Harry Kane should be the winner of the Ballon d'Or."

He went on: "His numbers over the past 12 to 18 months have been absolutely staggering, whether with Bayern Munich or with the England national team. For that reason, he deserves to win it."

Danny Murphy, the former England player, called Kane's goalscoring relentless. One of the best seasons of his career, in Murphy's view, and winning the award would be a deserved reward for it.

Settling quickly at Bayern Munich since his move, Kane adapted superbly, Murphy added, rating him the best out-and-out striker in the world over the past 12 months.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of Harry Kane's crowning was that he won the Ballon d'Or without claiming one of the major titles that usually shape the identity of the award's winner.

Great individual triumphs tend to come hand in hand with the UEFA Champions League, the World Cup or a continental crown. Kane reached the podium after Bayern Munich fell short in Europe, knocked out in the semi-finals.

Bayern did complete the domestic double last season, yet those titles carried nothing like the weight of the Champions League in the Ballon d'Or race. That left the England striker's individual numbers as the factor that tipped the scales in his favour.

The outcome shows the voting did not hinge solely on how many titles a player wins. It also weighed individual performance, influence on results, consistency across the season and the ability to deliver exceptional numbers in every competition.

From its foundation in 1956 until 1995, the Ballon d'Or was open only to European players. Opening it up to all nationalities widened the field of candidates and changed the nature of the race.

Since then, World Cup years have four times crowned a player who won the tournament. Messi's 2023 award stood as an exception, tied to the Qatar World Cup being staged in the winter of 2022.

A World Cup winner's victory was never a given, though. Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric had all claimed the award in years when they did not lift the trophy.

This marks only the fifth time in the past twenty years that the award has gone to a player who did not win the World Cup, the Champions League, the European Championship or the Copa America, according to the tally mentioned in the report. Kane joins a list that also features three of Messi's crownings.

Lamine Yamal ranked among the leading candidates, boosted by winning the World Cup with Spain according to the data provided and by his brilliance at Barcelona. The award ultimately settled on Kane, whose individual case was simply too strong to ignore.

Ousmane Dembele's Champions League triumph with Paris Saint-Germain last year played its part in landing him the Ballon d'Or, proof of the mark major titles can leave on the voting.

Kane's case was different. He forced his way through with goalscoring numbers unprecedented in Bayern Munich's history and an overall tally that ranks him among the greatest scorers the game has ever seen. The absence of a European title, it turns out, does not cancel the value of an exceptional season.

Kane's crowning sparked widespread celebration back home. Wembley's arches were lit up in gold on Monday evening, a symbolic nod to the scale of the England captain's achievement.

That celebration carried a special significance. No English player had claimed the Ballon d'Or since Owen lifted it at the start of this century, despite generations of stars delivering standout performances for club and country.

For Kane, the award crowns a career that was rarely straightforward. He has spoken openly about the difficulties he faced in his early days, and about how few tipped him to reach the top.

The prize means more than recognition of a prolific season. It is a tribute to a long road of development, graft and patience, one that has turned Kane into one of the finest strikers in the world.

Barely had Kane celebrated before talk turned to his chances of claiming the award in back-to-back years, fuelled by the blistering start he has made with Bayern Munich this season.

The England striker scored 10 goals in his first 12 matches for the German side. He added six in four UEFA Nations League appearances for his country, taking his tally to 16 goals in 16 matches according to the figures in the report.

His individual brilliance has been matched by Bayern's form. They have not lost a game in the Bundesliga or the Champions League, handing Kane every chance to keep chasing titles and records.

Should the side land the treble and Kane keep scoring at close to a goal a game, it will be hard to leave him off the list of candidates for the next award. The season carries no major tournaments either, with no World Cup, European Championship or Copa América to split the vote, according to the available data.

Retaining the Ballon d'Or will be no simple task, though. It demands sustained individual brilliance, strong collective results and the ability to see off rivals capable of tilting the race at any moment.

Beyond Messi and Ronaldo, the last man to win the award in consecutive years was the Dutchman Marco van Basten, crowned in 1988 and 1989. That gap alone tells you how hard it is to repeat the feat amid such fierce competition between the game's stars.

Kane won't have the race for the next Ballon d'Or to himself. Lamine Yamal keeps strengthening his standing among the world's most prominent stars, and the report ranks him third in the current standings, placing him firmly among the leading candidates.

The Spanish star has begun the season in striking fashion. Ten goals and 10 assists in 13 matches with Barcelona in La Liga and the Champions League, a tally that captures just how varied his impact has been between scoring and creating.

Barcelona rank among the leading contenders for the Champions League, and lifting the trophy could prove decisive in boosting Yamal's chances, especially if he keeps up this level and goes on producing outstanding numbers.

Win the award next year and Yamal would be 20, making him the youngest player in history to be crowned, according to the forecast in the report. Brazil's Ronaldo still holds the record as the youngest winner, having claimed it in 1997 at the age of 21.

Kylian Mbappe is chasing his first Ballon d'Or too. The Real Madrid forward has scored 14 goals in 13 matches for club and country, confirming he'll remain a strong contender for the award.

The battle doesn't stop with that trio. Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain stand out among the sides strongly tipped to challenge for the Champions League. No Arsenal player has ever won the Ballon d'Or, while PSG have the chance to boost their stars' presence in the individual race if they keep competing for the major titles.

Harry Kane's story carries its own particular weight. His arrival at the Ballon d'Or wasn't the continuation of an easy path or a rise expected from the start. It came as the result of years of work and development, as the player himself has confirmed.

He turned his goalscoring into a decisive weapon and imposed himself in one of Europe's toughest leagues. Then he carried on shining at continental and international level, until his numbers were being measured against the legends of the game.

Moving to Bayern Munich gave him a new platform to show his abilities in a different competitive environment. That alone wasn't enough. He needed an exceptional season in goals, impact and consistency.

Kane settled the race despite the absence of some major titles from his record last season, giving England their first Ballon d'Or since 2001 and returning Bayern Munich to the forefront of the award's winners decades after Rummenigge's triumph.

Record numbers, the pressures of competition, the challenge of staying on top: a new phase now begins for the English striker. He no longer has to prove he can reach the elite. The test is harder now: holding his place among the world's best, and turning a first Ballon d'Or into the start of a historic run.