Michael Olise and Harry Kane Shine in Bayern's Victory

Michael Olise lit up the Allianz Arena. Harry Kane finished the job.

Between them, Bayern Munich’s two headline acts ripped apart a helpless Berlin side in a goal rush that felt less like a league game and more like a Ballon d’Or campaign video. Olise walked off with the first hat-trick of his professional career, Kane with another brace. Both walked off looking every inch like men who belong in the conversation for football’s most coveted individual prize.

They already are. Their names sit on the 30-man shortlist, and after last season’s numbers and trophies, few expect either of them to be making up the numbers in the voting.

Olise steals the show

On Friday night, though, this was Olise’s stage.

For 90 minutes he toyed with Berlin. The hat-trick was the headline, but it barely covered the extent of his dominance. Every touch, every feint, every shot carried menace. SPOX handed him the top mark – a 1 – and nobody in the stadium could argue.

Jamal Musiala, who had opened the scoring a little after the quarter-hour mark, simply called his team-mate’s level “outstanding” on Sky. That felt about right. Musiala started the scoring; Olise turned the evening into a statement.

Vincent Kompany pointed to the work behind the artistry. The coach highlighted how often Olise has drilled those finishes in training, stressing that even the most gifted still have to grind. Talent alone does not bend the ball into the corners like that, not on repeat.

Next on Olise’s schedule is a different kind of stage. He heads off to join the French national team, named in Zinedine Zidane’s first squad alongside Bayern colleague Dayot Upamecano. A hat-trick for Bayern, a call from Zidane, and a Ballon d’Or shortlist spot: the arc of his season is pointing sharply upwards.

Eberl: “He belongs among the best”

After such a performance, the Ballon d’Or questions came quickly. Bayern sporting boss Max Eberl did not hide his admiration, even as he initially tried to play down the prediction game.

He called the award “a subjective assessment” and “difficult” to judge, but then stripped away any doubt about where he ranks Olise. For Eberl, the Frenchman “definitely belongs in the circle of (possible) Ballon d’Or winners too”.

He had already given Kane “a great chance” for the Golden Ball. Now, he sees Olise muscling his way into that elite bracket as well, purely on the strength of his football. “For me he definitely belongs among the best footballers in the world,” Eberl said. On nights like this, it was hard to disagree.

Yamal’s dig and the politics of the Golden Ball

While Bayern’s stars are letting their boots do the talking, the Ballon d’Or debate has been raging elsewhere.

Across in Barcelona, world champion Lamine Yamal has not been shy about staking his own claim. Speaking to Movistar Plus, he dropped a line that many read as a pointed jab at Golden Shoe winner Kane, who finished last season with 73 goals.

“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 later spelled out his view more clearly. Score 80 goals, and you deserve the top-scorer award, he argued. That, for him, is a different category. The “best player in the world” is the one who makes you enjoy the game as a commentator, the one who looks different from everyone else every time he touches the ball.

Eberl, asked about those comments, cut through the noise. “There has to be campaigning,” he admitted, but then delivered his punchline: “The best players are the ones who do not need campaigning.”

On a night like this, with Olise shredding defenders and Kane quietly racking up another brace, his point landed.

Kane stays calm in the crossfire

Kane, so often at the centre of the numbers debate, refused to bite.

“You do not know exactly how he meant it,” he said when asked about Yamal’s remarks. “People have their own assumptions about it. Ultimately, everyone is different.”

He did not turn it into a feud. Instead, he praised the Barcelona forward. “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.”

That was as far as he went in public. No counter-jabs, no slogans, no social media soundbites.

“Everyone has the right to speak however they want,” Kane added. “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, he pointed to his body of work. The goals, yes, but not just the goals.

“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.

That is Kane’s campaign message: not a slogan, but a record.

A race without a clear favourite

The Golden Ball will be handed out on 26 October at the Palladium Theatre in London. Between now and then, the lobbying will only intensify. Clubs will push their stars. Players will talk. Clips will be shared, numbers will be thrown around.

Bayern, though, may not need much spin. They have two forwards whose seasons speak for themselves.

Kane, the ruthless finisher whose 73 goals underpinned a title-winning campaign and a return of the Meisterschale to Munich. Olise, the rising artist who has just produced a first professional hat-trick and forced his way into Zidane’s France squad while drawing open praise from his own bosses.

One relies on cold efficiency, the other on flair and invention. Both are now firmly in the Ballon d’Or frame.

If, as Yamal says, the award should go to the best player in the world, not just the most prolific, then nights like this raise a sharper question: when the voters sit down in October, will they be able to separate the joy of watching Olise and Kane from the brutal weight of their numbers?