Ballon d’Or for Lewandowski? In the game, its awarding is retroactive. I wouldn’t refuse, said the Pole

Twenty-three goals and nine assists, that’s how Robert Lewandowski formatted his current offensive numbers after Monday’s LaLiga game against Valencia, in which he scored a hat trick. And even if these totals are not close to a career high, they are respectable for the 35-year-old forward. At the same time, he can still feel a serious grievance that he did not receive the Ballon d’Or in the past.

The Polish offensive player spent his most fruitful years at Bayern. And the period when football was played in front of empty stands due to the covid pandemic was the most crucial for him. But while the professional league competitions have finished in Germany, they have not in other countries. And that was precisely the reason why the French magazine France Football decided not to award the Ballon d’Or in 2020.

At the same time, Lewandowski was the first to receive the award. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone more productive than him this year. He mastered the Bundesliga, the German Cup and the Super Cup, the Champions League, the European Super Cup, and the Club World Cup. “My best years were in 2020 and 2021. A friend recently sent me statistics, he said I scored 100 goals in 85 games,” he recalled in an interview with the German weekly Sport Bild.

In the end, he did not take the golden ball in his hands even in 2021, because it was given to Lionel Messi. Until now, this choice is considered extremely controversial. The French newspaper Le Monde claims that this poll is about bribes and buying votes, allegedly there is a lot of manipulation during it. Pascal Ferré, the former editor-in-chief of France Football, was said to have lobbied for a favorable position for Messi at the time. At that time, the Argentine world champion worked at PSG.

So far, the 2021 announcement is under investigation. In any case, there are rumors that in the end the Ballon d’Or could be awarded retroactively for the year 2020 in France. “I’ve noticed there’s some buzz about it,” Lewandowski continued. “Of course I would like to receive the award one day. But it’s not that I’m angry or sad because I still miss this trophy. Anyway, that year was special for me, I played at the highest level, we won everything. If I were to win the Golden the ball in retrospect, four years later, I certainly wouldn’t be offended. It would be a great honor for me, I would accept the award.”

Lewandowski also commented on who is the best player in the world at the moment. And who could possibly win the next Ballon d’Or. “It’s hard to estimate now, because we still have the European Championship and decisive matches in the Champions League ahead of us,” he didn’t want to go into a deeper analysis. “However, for me at the moment Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham are the best in the world.”