I deserve to win the Ballon d’Or, says Lewandowski

Bayern Munich striker, Robert Lewandowski, believes he would have won the Ballon d’Or if the award had not been cancelled for 2020.

France Football confirmed in July that the prize would not be awarded due to the disruption of the 2019-20 season caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Lewandowski would almost certainly have been one of the favourites for the men’s trophy this year, having scored 55 goals in all competitions to propel Bayern to a treble of Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League titles for the second time.

The 32-year-old insists the Ballon d’Or was never on his mind this term, but he thinks he would have been a worthy winner.

“I didn’t think about it at all. I knew we still had the Champions League, then the Bundesliga restarted after the short break,” he told Onet and Przeglad Sportowy when asked for his view on the award being cancelled.

“I knew my priorities. My focus was on the Champions League, not on any possible individual awards. The decision to cancel the gala was made in the middle of the year and the Ballon d’Or was to be staged in December. The deadline was too distant to occupy my mind.”

When asked which player he would have given the award to, he replied: “Myself. We won everything there was to win. I won the award for top goal scorer in every competition. I think a player who achieves this would win the Ballon d’Or.”

Bayern’s 1-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain saw Lewandowski win the Champions League for the first time in his career, something he admitted had been a childhood dream.