India, Sept. 23 -- Social media erupted the moment Ousmane Dembele's name was called as the 2025 Ballon d'Or winner, with timelines flooded by tributes, disbelief, and a sense of long-awaited vindication. Fans and pundits alike framed it as the culmination of a career that had seemed destined for greatness but was so often interrupted by setbacks.

Posts celebrated his persistence, pointing to how years of injuries, dips in form, and time spent out of the French national squad could have derailed him, yet somehow only deepened the eventual triumph.

That online chorus of celebration carried shades of redemption, with many users highlighting how the 28-year-old Frenchman had gone from being labelled injury-prone at Barcelona to reinventing...