COVID-19 has impacted the sporting calendar yet further with France Football announcing that there will not be a Ballon d’Or winner for 2020, leaving a number of players as victims of the decision.
With the award being dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for so many years, it feels somewhat unfair that the players who have excelled in 2020 will not have their individual performances recognised in the same manner.
Very few have been able to stay at the highest level for so long as Messi and Ronaldo have done, but there were a number of candidates who could have taken the trophy home in December.
Lionel Messi is a phenomenon, but 2020 hasn’t been his best year. His 25 league goals allowed him to win his seventh Pichichi and he registered 21 assists, and this put him in contention for a seventh Ballon d’Or, but he was by no means the favourite.
After a poor start to the year, Cristiano Ronaldo has rediscovered his goalscoring touch, adding 28 Serie A goals this term. He can still add to that as well with there five matches left to play in Italy.
Perhaps the player most impacted by France Football’s decision, Robert Lewandowski has been sensational this year. He won the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich and took the Golden Boot with 34 goals. He can also help the Bavarian club to Champions League glory.
Anaedoonline.ng reported that Bayern Munich manager, Hansi Flick, has tipped Robert Lewandowski to win the Ballon d’Or this year after he netted his 51st goal in their DFB-Pokal final win on Saturday night.
Lewandowski has been instrumental as the Bundesliga champions have also won a domestic double for the second successive season.
“If I measure for goals now and I see that he has scored important goals in the Bundesliga this year, then you can think about how a player from the Bundesliga can become the Ballon d’Or winner.
“So why not? He has laid all the groundwork with this achievement this year and I would wish him well,” Flick told reporters.
Barcelona superstar, Lionel Messi, took home the Ballon d’Or in 2019, edging Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is the last Bayern player to win the individual prize in 1981.
Robert Lewandowski, recently matched Barcelona captain, Lionel Messi, and Juventus superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals records after his side’s Bundesliga 2-0 victory against Union Berlin.
Lewandowski scored a goal for Bayern Munich against Union Berlin to become the third player in football history, alongside Messi and Ronaldo to score 40 goals in five consecutive seasons, according to Mirror UK.
The Poland international did so from the penalty spot as Bayern saw off Berlin.
The victory over Berlin keeps the Bavarians top of the Bundesliga table and further cements Lewandowski’s place in history.
Only the great Gerd Muller ranks above Lewandowski in Bayern’s all-time scoring charts. Lewandowski is now on course to break his single-season goals record.
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