Lewandowski is one of the greatest football players on the planet. While Messi, Ronaldo, and Neymar receive all the hype when it comes to the best player in the world, there is one man who deserves more recognition. That is the Polish wonder. At 32 years of age, Lewandowski could be accused of being in the twilight of his career, yet based on the season he has just had, he is in his prime. Yet while the man continues to break records, his achievements continue to go unrecognized.
Robert Lewandowski came fourth in the FIFA Ballon d’Or competition in 2015. If you asked anyone then they would have known how the following years would go. Lionel Messi came first, Ronaldo second, and Neymar third. The top two players would share the spoils for years to come. Only in 2020 when both Ronaldo and Messi had sub-par seasons as Barcelona had their worst season in many years and Juventus were also knocked out of the Champions League too easily, could anyone look elsewhere. In 2020 there was only one place to look. Robert Lewandowski. The man who had remained in the shadows for many years while continuing to score incredible goals had just recorded his best season, with 34 goals in 31 Bundesliga games and a further 15 in the champions league.
Lewandowski clearly deserves the Ballon d’Or but the event and voting were canceled due to coronavirus. Why the event could not have moved online and allowed great players to still be honored is anyone’s guess but while the history books will continue to show the dominance of certain players it will have missed out on a man who made a significant impression on the world football stage in 2020.
To be fair, Lewandowski has been making a significant impression for many years. In 2015, the year he came fourth in the competition, Bayern Munich was playing Wolfsburg and were 1-0 down with 50 minutes gone. Lewandowski had been rested for the game but Guardiola decided to bring him on to try and salvage the tie. Salvage it he did. Lewandowski scored five goals in nine minutes to turn the tie around from losing 1-0 to winning 5-1, a record in European football. This was clearly the mark of a very special player.
2020 marks Lewandowski’s first career Champions League title, his best scoring record, and a long list of records that he has now broken in the European and German rankings. He is the highest ever foreign goal scorer in the German league. He has won the Polish player of the year a record nine times. He is also the fourth-highest goalscorer in the history of the Champions League.
It is remarkable that he will not receive the accolade and awards he deserves this year but what will matter most to him is that he won the Champions League. Bayern Munich dominated the competition in such a fashion that has never been seen before and suggests they will be a force that will be tough to deal with for years to come. The team annihilated Barcelona 8-2 in the competition and sent a team that has Messi, Suarez, Pique, and more star names into disarray.
While the Bayern team is a combination of strength and speed, youth and experience it is also a sword with an incredibly sharp point at the end. That sharp point is Robert Lewandowski. The Polish hero has a couple of years at the top of his game left and it will be amazing to see if next year he can continue his form and take the Ballon d’Or, he certainly deserves it.
