The Bayern Munich and Poland striker pilfered a Bundesliga
record 41 goals in just 29 games last season to eclipse the long-standing mark
set by the late Gerd Mueller.
Lewandowski, 33, scooped FIFA’s prize for best male player
of 2020 and has the backing of both coach Julian Nagelsmann and Bayern
team-mate Thomas Mueller after a prolific start to the new campaign.
“‘Lewy’ has to win the thing on Monday when you see the way
he is playing at the moment,” Mueller said of a player who has already scored
25 times in 20 appearances this season.
Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have combined to win 11 of the
past 12 editions of the Ballon d’Or, the lone exception in 2018 when Luka
Modric helped Real Madrid to another Champions League triumph and inspired
Croatia to the World Cup final.
“Robert deserves to win it because in my view he has been
more unbelievably consistent than any other player,” Nagelsmann said last month
in an interview with Munich newspaper Abendzeitung.
While Messi has endured a stop-start beginning to life at
Paris Saint-Germain, the Argentine bagged 30 league goals in his farewell
season at Barcelona and also won the Copa del Rey.
Further strengthening his case was a first major
international trophy in July, as Argentina beat rivals Brazil to win the Copa
America at the Maracana — ending the country’s 28-year wait for the title.
Seventh Heaven?
“My biggest prize was what I was able to achieve with the
national team,” Messi told Catalan daily Sport recently.
“After having fought and fought so much for that
achievement, it was the best given all that it cost.
“If the Ballon d’Or were to arrive, it would be
extraordinary for what it would mean to win one more. The seventh would be
crazy.”
Ronaldo last took home the trophy in 2017. The Champions
League’s all-time top scorer has struck in all five games in Europe during his
second spell at Manchester United but appears an outside contender for a sixth
Ballon d’Or.
Karim Benzema received support from Thierry Henry, Zinedine
Zidane, and tennis star Rafael Nadal following a tremendous year with Real
Madrid.
However the France star this week received a one-year
suspended sentence for complicity in a bid to blackmail his former
international teammate Mathieu Valbuena with a sex tape. He was also given a
75,000-euro ($84,000) fine.
Five members of Italy’s Euro 2020-winning squad feature on
the 30-man shortlist, including Chelsea midfielder and Champions League winner
Jorginho.
Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland — viewed as Ballon d’Or
winners of the future — also feature alongside Neymar and Liverpool striker
Mohamed Salah, the leading Premier League scorer this term.
Barcelona captain Alexia Putellas, the UEFA women’s player of
the year, is a leading candidate to succeed 2019 Ballon d’Or winner Megan
Rapinoe. The American was not among the 20 nominees.
Putellas is joined by Barca team-mates Jennifer Hermoso and
Lieke Martens following their Champions League triumph, with Australia’s Sam
Kerr among five Chelsea representatives.
Christine Sinclair, of Olympic gold medal-winning Canada, is
also in the running.
The Kopa Trophy will be handed out to the best young men’s
player, while 10 goalkeepers are shortlisted for the Yashin trophy.
AFP