LIKE the Golden Globes before the Oscars, there are a number of prizes handed out before the Ballon d’Or that hint at who will be in the running for football’s most prestigious individual award. Indeed, Lionel Messi (winner of the 2019 ‘The Best’ award handed out by FIFA) and Virgil Van Dijk (winner of UEFA’s Player of the Year award for 2019) are widely favoured as the two frontrunners.
Both players have enjoyed extremely successful years, particularly in the case of Van Dijk who led Liverpool to Champions League glory and has maintained his form into the 2019/20 season with the Reds currently eight points clear at the top of the Premier League table. Messi, of course, is Messi, an unstoppable force of nature who deserves recognition for another typically stellar 12 months despite a couple of injury lay-offs.
One notable omission has been made from the discourse over this year’s Ballon d’Or, though. 2019 has been the year of Robert Lewandowski’s life, at least in terms of his own individual level. Of course, Bayern Munich have toiled at times, sacking Niko Kovac as manager just two weeks ago, but the Polish striker has managed to find top form regardless.
Robert Lewandowski has scored in EVERY #Bundesliga and #UCL game this season
That's 14 matches! #BayernMunich pic.twitter.com/GIUpYErDp1
— Unibet (@unibet) November 7, 2019
Lewandowski’s numbers for the year are extraordinary. He has scored 48 times in 2019, making him Europe’s most prolific goalscorer. Messi is the only man who can boast numbers even comparable to that of the Pole’s and he has just 43. On top of this, Lewandowski has scored in every single match he has played for Bayern Munich this season. That’s a run of 17 straight games.
In the era of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, being hailed as football’s third best player has been the aim for mere mortals of the sport. For a while, Neymar held that unofficial, unwritten accolade. Gareth Bale was in the discussion at a point, while more recently Kylian Mbappe has made his claim as ‘Best of the Rest.’
With this in mind, it’s not just this year that Lewandowski has been denied the credit and acclaim he deserves. This is a guy who has scored close to 150 goals for Bayern Munich since 2014. He is also Poland’s all-time top scorer and boasts more game-winning goals (15) than Ronaldo, Sergio Aguero, Karim Benzema and Mbappe since the start of the 2018/19 season.
The achievements of Messi and Ronaldo over the past decade or so have left the Polish striker somewhat in the shade, but that has not been the case over the past 12 months. In fact, Lewandowski could even claim to have cast a shadow of his own in 2019. His numbers paint the picture of a player at the peak of his powers.
Is there a better striker right now than Robert Lewandowski? pic.twitter.com/KL1tjKIwNN
— Goal (@goal) November 19, 2019
It’s not just in Lewandowski’s numbers that the Pole’s Ballon d’Or candidacy can be coloured, but in the way he has played in 2019. He might wear the number nine shirt, but Lewandowski is a complete forward in a way even Ronaldo isn’t any longer. The Pole can do everything – he can stretch the pitch, he can challenge in the air, he can dribble past opponents, he can last one in from long range, he can get on the end of a cross into the six-yard box. Lewandowski has so many edges it’s almost impossible not to get cut when facing him.
At 31, it’s likely that Lewandowski will enter the twilight of his career over the next few years, but for the time being he deserves some sunshine. Messi and Ronaldo have warped expectations at the top level of the sport for a whole generation and yet even by such unrealistic standards Lewandowski has held his own.
If Van Dijk is threatening to break football’s duopoly, as seems to be the consensus, Lewandowski also deserves to be included in any discussion over this year’s Ballon d’Or. He might not have finished last season with the Champions League trophy in his hands, but this is an award decided by the achievements of the individual and Lewandowski has individually achieved more than anyone else in 2019.
