BERLIN, Jan. 19 — Robert Lewandowski has no regrets not having received a vote from Lionel Messi for this FIFA’s Best male player awards of 2021.
While Portuguese superstar Ronaldo placed the later winner in his voting on position one, the Argentine striker left out the Bayern forward in his choice for the first three.
After Messi outpaced the 33-year-old Pole in last years’ Ballon d’Or, Lewandowski managed to turn things around and won the FIFA award by four votes ahead of Messi and Liverpool’s Mohammed Salah (9 votes behind).
“You have to ask him about his voting,” the Bayern striker told Xinhua in an interview.
“I think I didn’t do anything wrong and gave him reason to be upset aside from maybe sporting reasons. It was his decision not to vote for me and I respect that,” the spearhead stated.
Lewandowski said he is not upset and can’t say anything negative about his award rival.
“At the Ballon d’Or, he voted me as the second. Now it’s a different competition. Maybe it’s why I voted him second at the Ballon d’Or,” the 2020 treble winner said.
While the Ballon d’Or is a competition with only journalists voting, the Best award is run by half of the voters recruited out of national coaches and international players.
Lewandowski mentioned rating the Best award above the Ballon d’Or. Awards get important when coaches and players do “the main voting”, the Bayern striker added.
“They know what it means to be and stay at a top-level,” the attacker said. Awards one is winning with his team’s support are the most important one, the Polish team captain added. A vote like this goes beyond statistics, he said.
The Bayern player voted for Chelsea’s midfielder Jorginho as first followed by Messi and Ronaldo. “Jorginho scored important goals as a midfield six; that means something.”
Lewandowski praised Ronaldo for delivering the highest level “no matter for what club he is playing.”
After having scored his 300th goal in the national league, the Bayern forward said he is thinking about new records when getting near them.
By scoring 41 goals last season, the Pole broke the nearly 50-year-old national league season record of German icon Gerd Muller (40 season goals 1971/72). Muller’s 365 career goals in the national league seem within reach.
“It’s nothing for this season. And everything else is a thing of the next years,” Lewandowski said.
The Pole said there is no need to talk about a contract extension as his current one expires in 2023. His most pressing issue is to keep his high level over the past years.
He won’t talk about retiring before the age of 35. It is not out of reach to continue until 40 depending on his fitness.
“I do a lot of things to keep at the top, but I still discover new things around my body. I gained a lot of experience that makes me currently stay in the best shape,” he said, adding new methods might soon be necessary.
He is ready to win new titles with Bayern and doesn’t think about other clubs. “If you manage to deliver a satisfying performance on the pitch it doesn’t play a role for what club you play,” he said
Being successful on the pitch means entirely focusing on the job. His experience and knowledge about the procedures in football help him to concentrate on his main task and neglect rumors. (Xinhua)
Lewandowski has no regrets being ignored by Messi in FIFA’s 2021 Best award
