Just the world soccer player
Small consolation for Lewandowski
By Tobias Nordman
01/18/2022 06:54 am
Robert Lewandowski is again the best footballer in the world. The FC Bayern striker defends his title in the FIFA elections. That is well deserved for the Pole, but only small consolation. Because the more prestigious award is still denied to him.
Perhaps the award “The Best” is the highest quality that world football has to offer. The national coaches, the respective captains of the national teams, journalists and fans are involved in the choice of Fifa. The composition of this jury enables a broad basis for evaluation. But what good is all this if the other prize, the Ballon d’Or, is more highly regarded – even though only journalists make the judgment in this world footballer’s election? Hardly anyone knows this better than Robert Lewandowski, “The Best” for the period from October 8, 2020 to August 6, 2021. Of course, he himself will not say so, instead the Pole announced that he felt “very honored”. and was “very, very proud”. He feels “great luck” after the award.
For the second time, the FC Bayern striker can be happy to have been named the best footballer in the world. But for the second time in the electoral hierarchy, he is just the little prince. The long-awaited heir to the throne in the shadow of King Lionel (Messi), who won the Ballon d’Or again a few weeks ago. Not because he fascinated the world with his Messi-likeness, but because in the final meters of his career he had actually won a major title with Argentina, the Copa America. It was the triumph that completed Messi’s masterpiece. That’s why the result wasn’t cheeky, as some thought.
The Argentinian’s voting on “The Best” is more cheeky. He simply ignored Lewandowski, instead putting his Parisian teammates Neymar and Kylian Mbappé in first and second, and finally Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema in third. Not a completely unworldly selection, but one with a small aftertaste and a decent, deliberate swipe at Lewandowski, whom he had flattered with words of comfort at the Ballon d’Or in the role of triumphator. Incidentally, the Bayern star chose Messi in second place, behind the Italian European champion Jorginho. That’s what you call fairness and greatness.
Why is it?
It is absolutely undisputed across the country that Lewandowski would have deserved the more prestigious title. Just as he has now undisputedly been awarded for his performances in this somewhat strangely defined period of time. Because in this window falls the historical achievement of breaking the goal record of the legendary Gerd Müller, which was actually created for eternity.
It wasn’t because of this phenomenal centre-forward, whose uniqueness and spectacular transformation from a quickly frustrated, footballing I-AG to a mastered team player, was that he didn’t go away empty-handed at the Ballon d’Or in November. For the umpteenth time. The last blemish in his extraordinary and extraordinarily successful career. In fact, his club’s rather surprising lack of titles should have swung the pendulum away from him. FC Bayern had only won the championship, had sensationally failed in the second round of the DFB Cup against Holstein Kiel and in the Champions League (without the injured Lewandowski) in the quarterfinals against Paris St. Germain. In addition, the Bundesliga does not have the appeal of Spain’s La Liga or the Premier League in the eyes of international observers.
The perfect total package
The fact that he has once again become “The Best” is highly deserved. Because no footballer was better than Lewandowski. The overall package of goals, assists, indispensability for his team has not been more perfect than him for two years. While the Pole seems to be getting a little better every year, a little more complete, the formative icons of the past 15 years, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, are increasingly and rapidly losing their power and shine. Because at the Ballon d’Or, the older of the competitions, but also the life’s work slides into the judgment a little, Lewandowski is denied the most prestigious individual honor in world football. Yet.
But how many chances does Munich still have? One? Maybe two? In fact, certainly not. The 33-year-old is brutally fit, but he’s already 33. No one can say how long he’ll be strong and healthy through his career. And nobody knows how much longer he will play at Bayern. The record champion can imagine many more years together, but also dreams of Borussia Dortmund’s power phenomenon Erling Haaland, a man who can definitely win the Ballon d’Or one day. Maybe not next year, but possibly the year after?
But the young Norwegian will also have a huge handicap in the competition for potential world footballers. He will not win a major title with his country. And no one knows better than Lewandowski how crucial that can be when it comes to winning that damn Ballon d’Or. When it comes to becoming the great world footballer.