Gary Lineker shared Lionel Messi’s belief that Robert Lewandowski should have been awarded the Ballon d’Or last year.
The Argentine won the accolade for a record seventh time at a ceremony in Paris on Monday night, finishing ahead of the Bayern Munich striker and Chelsea midfielder Jorginho.
Messi, however, graciously admitted last year’s award should have gone to Lewandowski, who missed out in controversial circumstances.
Gary Lineker has echoed Lionel Messi’s call for Robert Lewandowski to win 2020 Ballon d’Or
The Bayern star was the overwhelming favourite to win the Ballon d’Or 12 months ago, only for the organisers to scrap the award because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In his acceptance speech, Messi paid tribute to the Poland international.
‘Robert, you deserve your Ballon d’Or,” the Paris Saint-Germain forward said.
‘Last year, everyone was in agreement to say that you were the big winner of this award.’
In his acceptance speech Messi said the 2020 prize should’ve gone to Robert Lewandowski
Gary Lineker echoed Messi’s stance and said the Bayern Munich star deserved the accolade
Lineker echoed the Argentine’s thoughts and suggested Lewandowski, who claimed the Striker of the Year award on Monday, should be awarded last year’s accolade retrospectively.
‘I think last year’s 2020 Ballon d’Or should be retrospectively given to Robert Lewandowski,’ the Match of The Day host tweeted.
‘He deserved to win it. He deserves to have one.’
In a separate tweet, the former England international added: ‘Messi agrees. Messi’s right. Give Robert Lewandowski the award. Such an easy thing to do, and the right thing to do.’
Lineker said the 2020 Ballon d’Or should be retrospectively given to Lewandowski
The Match of the Day host suggested ‘it would be the right thing to do’ to give the award to the 33-year-old striker after last year’s ceremony was cancelled
While he missed out on the Ballon d’Or, Lewandowski won the Best FIFA Men’s Player last year following an astonishing 2019-20 campaign in which he scored a combined 47 times for club and country.
The 33-year-old’s goals propelled Bayern to a famous treble, as the Bavarian giants won the Champions League, the DFB-Pokal and an eighth consecutive Bundesliga title.
Lewandowski added another Bundesliga title last season – his seventh in a row – plundering 48 goals in 40 appearances in all competitions and breaking the late Gerd Muller’s record for most goals in a single Bundesliga season with 41.
Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski came second despite a superb season and agonisingly missing out last year
The 33-year-old scored 47 goals in all competitions as Bayern won the Treble in 2019-20
The Poland captain has continued in a similar vein this season, finding the net 25 times in 20 appearances in all competitions for Bayern so far.
Messi, meanwhile, moved two clear of Cristiano Ronaldo’s tally of five Ballon d’Ors with his latest triumph.
Not everybody, however, seemed convinced the Argentine, who left Barcelona for PSG in the summer, deserved the award.
ESPN’s Taylor Twellman said Lewandowski had been ‘sensational’ in the past 18 months
BBC Sports’ Simon Stone suggested the Pole would’ve been a more fitting choice than Messi
While Si Lloyd indicated Lewandowski could feel hard done by after finishing second
Several journalists including Simon Stone, Taylor Twellman and Si Lloyd suggested the award should have gone to Lewandowski after he missed out last year.
Meanwhile Piers Morgan argued Messi wasn’t ‘even in the top two players at PSG’.
The 34-year-old joined PSG on a free transfer in the summer after winning the Spanish Cup in his final season with Barcelona and finishing as LaLiga’s top scorer.
Piers Morgan said the Argentine was not even in the top two players at Paris Saint-Germain
The 34-year-old led his national side Argentina to a first major trophy in 28 years last summer
More importantly, however, he won the Copa America with Argentina, the Albiceleste’s first major trophy since 1993.
‘It’s incredible to be here again. Two years ago I thought it was the last time. Winning the Copa América was key,’ Messi said on Monday.
‘It is a special year for me with this Copa América title. It meant a lot to win at the Maracanã stadium and I was so happy to celebrate with the people from Argentina.
‘I don’t know if it’s the best year of my life, I’ve had a long career. But it was a special one with the title with Argentina after the tough times and the criticism.’