Days before the Ballon d'Or winner is revealed, Kylian Mbappé has suffered a striking setback in an opinion poll run by the Madrid-based newspaper "Marca".
Readers of the paper chose Lamine Yamal as the player most deserving of the award. The Real Madrid star finished second.
"Marca" asked its readers which of the thirty nominees deserved to win the Ballon d'Or, and 233,849 voters had taken part at the time of writing. Yamal built a clear lead, taking 29% of the vote with 67,494 votes.
Here's the intriguing part. Mbappé, firmly in the race and vocal about his own claim to the award, came second with 19% and 43,155 votes, well clear of the third-placed candidate.
Yamal's win in the "Marca" poll lands as his rivalry with Mbappé heats up, the pair having traded views in recent weeks on their chances of lifting the trophy.
Yamal said in earlier comments that he sees himself and Mbappé as the two best players in the world, before going further and declaring he deserves the award this year for what he has achieved. Mbappé was blunter still, saying he would vote for himself.
Barcelona have thrown their public weight behind Yamal over the past few days, while Mbappé enjoys backing inside Real Madrid, led by coach José Mourinho, who talked up the Frenchman's claim to the prize.
The poll tells a very different story from some of those public positions. This is a newspaper with a clear Madrid identity, which makes the Barcelona player's lead over the Real Madrid star among its readers all the more striking in raw numbers.
It didn't stop at the Yamal-Mbappé battle either. Fabián Ruiz came third with 13% and 31,089 votes, while Harry Kane took fourth on 8% and 19,410 votes.
Lionel Messi finished fifth, also on 8%, with 17,887 votes, and Rodri sixth on 7% with 16,765 votes.
Seventh went to Pau Cubarsí with 4% and 10,025 votes, while Jude Bellingham and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia each polled 2%, with 5,248 and 5,237 votes respectively.
Marc Cucurella picked up 3,656 votes in tenth, then came Ousmane Dembélé in eleventh with 1%, followed by Erling Haaland, Ferran Torres, Michael Olise, Vitinha and Vinícius Júnior.
Every other nominee polled below 1%. Julián Quiñones received 873 votes, Sadio Mané 595, Luis Díaz 583, Achraf Hakimi 520, William Pacho 421, and Bruno Fernandes 416.
Gabriel Magalhães managed 415 votes, William Saliba 406, Dayot Upamecano 294, Nuno Mendes 287, Lautaro Martínez 266, Marquinhos 263 and Declan Rice 235. João Neves brought up the rear with just 200.