Robert Lewandowski (33) is once again FIFA World Player. The FC Bayern striker obviously does not see himself as having reached his goal yet.
The smile rarely left his face on Monday evening, why should it have been any other way? For the second time in a row, Robert Lewandowski accepted the FIFA World Player award, for the second time “only” in the presence of Bayern bosses and virtually switched on.
In almost two pandemic years now, the Bayern attacker has won every team title and almost every major individual award. In contrast to the Ballon d’Or vote a few weeks ago, Lewandowski left Lionel Messi behind this time, even though – unlike Messi – he had still voted his opponent second.
“Everything I have won also belongs to the team “
“Everything I have won or everything I win,” Lewandowski said later on “Bayern-TV”, “that also belongs to the team, and I have to be grateful to my teammates and my coaches because it all has to work really well. I know they can also be happy with the success we have.”
The Pole, who took his Bundesliga goal tally to 300 with his treble in Cologne at the weekend, kept smiling. “This second title was not so easy when you look at the whole season or the whole year. “
Last April, Lewandowski missed several weeks due to a ligament injury in his right knee and, among other things, missed the quarter-final games in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain: “I couldn’t help my team then, that hurt, that time. “
“I feel better than ever before “
Bayern were eliminated, “but I knew when I was back on the pitch I had to show my performance again and try to help my team score goals and win.” He succeeded, and in the end 29 Bundesliga games were also enough for him to score a staggering 41 goals and equal Gerd Müller’s all-time record. “I know that I can also be proud of everything I have done. I always try to show my best.”
If that continues (and Lewandowski extends his contract, which is valid until 2023), Müller should also be rid of his record of 365 Bundesliga goals in total in the foreseeable future. “I feel better than ever before,” Lewandowski beamed, and followed it up with a clear message: “It means that I can still show my best football at 33 or 34 or 35 – or even longer. And I know that I have benefited from this whole year of working now. I hope it always stays like this and gets even better. “