Robert Lewandowski Issues Blunt Response to Messi vs Ronaldo GOAT Debate

• Robert Lewandowski has been one of the best football players after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo
• He was unlucky not to win the Ballon d'Or award in 2020
• He has refused to be sucked into the conversation of who is better between the two leading stars

Robert Lewandowski will go down as one of the most unfortunate players never to win the Ballon d'Or in his career. The Polish star has been among the best strikers of his generation, making his name by inspiring Bayern Munich to a couple of titles.

In his time, he sat back and watched Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo win a combined 12 Ballon d'Ors, with only Luka Modric breaking the cycle in 2018.

And when he thought he had done enough to finally win the individual gong, COVID-19 struck in 2020 and the awards were scrapped. Football fans were in agreement that he deserved the award that year. Even Messi admitted as much.

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To make matters worse, Messi beat him by 33 points in the 2021 award. Perhaps it is this pain that Lewandowski carries that he never wants to be drawn into the GOAT debate.

Lewandowski on GOAT debate

In a past interview in 2022, the 34-year-old outrightly refused to pick who was a better player between Messi and Ronaldo. He instead declared himself as the better pick.

"I choose Lewandowski. I've had so many questions about the Ballon d'Or. Last year they cancelled it, I couldn't go, I won everything I could win. This year I scored 69 goals in one season so you know…

I did everything that I could do," as quoted by the Mirror.

This comes at a time when there are increased rumours about Messi returning to Barcelona this summer. Playing alongside Messi is the dream of any potent striker and Lewandowski would relish such an opportunity.

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The two met on the sidelines of the Laureus Sports Awards in Paris, where Messi won his second award - the only football player to do so, as captured by Sports Illustrated.

Buffon's opinion on Messi vs Ronaldo

Sports Brief has also reported that Gianluigi Buffon is among several high-ranking members of the football fraternity who have previously delved into the Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi debate.

The debate has lasted for over a decade, with Ronaldo and Messi dominating the football space during the period.

Buffon once gave his reasons for choosing one of the superstars as superior to the other. However, on his part, Buffon admitted that while Messi is more complete, Ronaldo is a killer inside the penalty area.