Lionel Messi may very well have already done enough to put himself in position to win an eighth Ballon d’Or in 2023, despite the fact that he was left out of the nominees for the award in 2022.
Robert Lewandowski is of the opinion that Lionel Messi has already accomplished enough to win the Ballon d’Or award for a record-setting seventh time at the presentation that will take place in October.
After leading Argentina to victory at the World Cup in Qatar and having a stellar start to the current campaign with Paris Saint-Germain, the 35-year-old is once again at the top of the world football rankings.
As a result of Messi’s shaky start to life away from Barcelona, he did not receive a nomination for the award back in October; this marked the first time since 2005 that he did not make the long list of candidates.
Lewandowski made these comments regarding the top individual award while he was speaking with the Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo. He said, “There is maybe one more player who plays for the same club [Kylian Mbappe], but there is only one World Cup that decides who is going to win it this season.”
Because of what he has accomplished, which is really important to him, Leo is unquestionably in the number one spot right now. He can now take pleasure in it.”
Lewandowski did mention Mbappe, who was the winner of the Golden Boot at the World Cup, but he confessed that Messi is currently in the lead and said that he’d want to play with Messi at Barcelona.
The forward continued, saying, “It’s not up to me. Although he still manages to score goals, we can see that he is playing more like a “playmaker” these days, which may explain why he is dishing out more assists to his teammates but still managing to score the same number of goals.
However, in comparison to other times, he is the type of footballer that any striker would be envious to play beside since he has improved so much.
Lewandowski infamously lost out on a good opportunity to receive the award back in 2021 when it was canceled by the organizers, and Messi made sure to mention the Poland icon when he won it this year.
Messi shared his thoughts, saying, “I want to tell Robert that it is an honor for me to be up against him.” You deserve your Ballon d’Or. ” The previous year, everyone agreed that you were the winner of the competition. I believe that France Football should award you the Ballon d’Or so that you can have it as you so rightfully deserve.”
In reaction, Lewandowski, who is currently 34 years old, stated, “They weren’t hollow words; it was a good time in my career.”