Only consolation prize for Bayern star: Even Messi feels sorry for Lewandowski

Robert Lewandowski is a winner of this year’s Ballon d’Or election, but not the very special winner, not the big winner. This is Lionel Messi once more. The Argentine wins the trophy for the seventh time – praising and then comforting his worst competitor.

When Robert Lewandowski was called on stage as the winner, it was clear to most observers: the big winner will be someone else. Because what the FC Bayern striker won on Monday evening at the “Theater du Chatelet” in Paris was nothing more than a consolation prize. Lewandowski can call himself “Scorer of the Year”. It is a trophy that the organizer, the French soccer magazine “France Football”, had surprisingly pulled out of its hat.

It was not the award that Lewandowski – and the one that had wished for him even more – was not. Instead of the Ballon d’Or, he got the trophy, which looks like an extremely flattened variant, with angry tongues speaking of a tortilla. Lionel Messi, on the other hand, received the golden football – for the seventh time. “Congratulations to Leo Messi and Alexia Putellas (Winner of the Ballon d’Or feminine, editor’s note)“Congratulations to all nominated players,” said Lewandowski after the celebration, quite the fair loser.

Messi had experienced a season to forget at FC Barcelona. Even though he still stood out for the Catalans, with 30 goals and nine assists in 35 games he was the top scorer in the league. At his new club Paris St. Germain he is only slowly arriving and is far from being in top form. He’s still the chosen one, probably mainly because he won the Copa America with Argentina. Finally a title with the national team. It has already been held against him that he will never be able to do this.

Something that is much more likely to be true of the Pole Lewandowski. And yet the Bayern star was the favorite before the award ceremony. He scored the most goals, he trumped Gerd Müller’s age-old Bundesliga record, and he won the ninth championship in a row with FC Bayern. Lewandowski said: “I won the Striker of the Year award and no player can win an individual award without a strong team and loyal fans behind them.”

“You deserve it”

It was perhaps the decisive flaw: Lewandowski also “only” won one title this season. The DFB-Pokal went to Borussia Dortmund, in the Champions League it was already over in the quarter-finals. And so Messi was right in his words after his victory: “It was a great honor to fight for this prize with you,” said the Argentine to Lewandowski, who had sat next to him during the event – showdown shoulder to shoulder. “Everyone knows you were the winner last year. I think ‘France Football’ should give you the award for 2020. You deserve it and you should have it at home too.”

Last year there was a gap in the list of winners. The award ceremony was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was the gigantic year of the Bayern sextuple, it was the year in which Lewandowski was named “World Footballer of the Year” by FIFA and received the competition trophy for the Ballon d’Or.

At FC Bayern, they try hard not to let the disappointment show too much. Bayern’s CEO Oliver Kahn tweeted: “In addition to being named Striker of the Year, Lewandowski would have deserved the Ballon d’Or as well, because he has been doing absolutely outstanding every day for years. Congratulations to Lionel Messi!” And he emphasized the performance of his exceptional striker: “Even without the Golden Ball, Lewy has long since made it to Olympus, the greatest in world football. I’m excited to see what records he will set with our club in the future. He will be back next year Be a candidate. “

Club President Herbert Hainer said: “FC Bayern Munich congratulates Lionel Messi on the Ballon d’Or. However, we are once again proud of Robert Lewandowski, because he deserved it, after Gerd Müller, Franz Beckenbauer and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge der To become the fourth player in our club’s history, steeped in tradition, to win this title. Robert is one of the greatest players in Bayern and world football. The fact that he was named Striker of the Year is well deserved after his many goals in the past two years . ”

“I don’t understand the world anymore”

What remains of the gala at the end is the consolation prize for Lewandowski. And the knowledge that he’s not far from Messi. The Pole received 580 points from the jury of journalists, and Messi received 613 points. The third place, Italy’s European Champion and Champions League winner with Chelsea FC, Jorghino, has a clear gap (460). Cristiano Ronaldo, who has already won the trophy five times, only finished sixth. The Portuguese raged after France Football’s editor-in-chief Pascal Ferré accused him of aiming to win more gold balls than long-term rival Messi. All lies, so Ronaldo, who stayed away from the gala, officially because he wanted to prepare for the upcoming game with Manchester United.

Displeasure is what prevails next to the beaming winners Messi and Putellas. From Ronaldo, but also from the Lewandowski camp. Unlike the runner-up and his FC Bayern, not all of them were elegantly cautious with their opinion. What happened in the social networks was what happened there: Unfiltered anger was released, postponement assumed, malice reigned. But experts also reacted with astonishment: “To be honest, I don’t understand the world after this election,” said Lothar Matthäus on Sky: “With all due respect to Messi and the other great, nominated players. Nobody deserved it as Lewandowski. ” Overall, 170 journalists around the world saw things differently.

.
source site-59