The outcome of the Ballon d’Or 2022 ceremony was known for months. French Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema won the prestigious trophy for the first time for his outstanding performances with the Galacticos.
Although Polish fans knew that Robert Lewandowski would not win the prize, many hoped he could make it to the podium. Eventually, the Barcelona striker finished in 4th position, behind the Senegalese Sadio Mané and the Belgian Kevin De Bruyne. In turn, Lewandowski was awarded the Gerd Müller trophy for the best striker of the year for his stunning 57 goals for club and country.
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Most would agree that “Lewy” should have won the prize in 2020. Yet, the ceremony was cancelled by France Football for “epidemiological reasons”.
In 2021, our number 9 continued scoring with an unshakable regularity.
The attribution of the Ballon d’Or to Lewandowski last year would have been the perfect opportunity to fix the blatant injustice of non-attribution of the previous year. However, the prize was given to Leo Messi… for the seventh time.
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A few days ago, when asked who should win the Ballon d’Or 2022, “RL9” answered with a touch of cynicism that it should be Benzema, “if the ceremony is not cancelled”.
In other words, the Varsovian could already have won two golden balls. Aged 34 now, it’s likely that such an opportunity might not present itself anymore. Nonetheless, finishing 4th in the ranking for the most prestigious individual prize in football remains an outstanding achievement, especially while in your mid-30s. It’s worth noticing that it was the seventh time that “Lewy” was nominated.
Robert Lewandowski has been in a transition phase since last summer. He recently joined FC Barcelona, where he made a quite remarkable start, quickly taking the lead of La Liga’s top scorers with nine goals so far in as many games. “Lewy” also continued to be decisive in the Champions League, where he is currently on the podium of the best all-time strikers of the competition with 91 goals, behind Cristiano Ronaldo (140) and Leo Messi (127).
Shortly after being awarded the Gerd Müller trophy, the Barça striker praised the German legend who “inspired him to get better and break some of his records”. As a reminder, Lewandowski did the impossible in May 2021 by breaking Gerd Müller’s record of goals scored in the German league. The Pole found the net 41 times in only 29 games!
Image: Getty Images
Author: Sébastien Meuwissen
