Striker Robert Lewandowski reacted with disappointment after his defeat at the Ballon d'Or. "When I heard the result, I was of course sad somewhere, I don't want to deny that," he told the streaming platform Viaplay Sport Polska. The Argentine Lionel Messi received the Golden Ball for the seventh time in Paris last week, Bundesliga top scorer Lewandowski had to be content with second place in the prestigious election carried out by the French specialist newspaper “France Football” despite his strong season. The fact that he was honored as the best goalscorer was little consolation for the exceptional Polish footballer.
“Yes, of course you have a feeling of unsatisfied desire when you are so close and competing with a great and brilliant footballer like Messi and hear voices that you should have won that. Of course, I respect Lionel Messi, how he plays and what he has achieved. Just the fact that I can compete with him, in a way, shows me what level I am at and I'm very proud of that, ”said the 33-year-old striker. “But to be honest: I was sad. I'm glad we didn't have a game during the week. "
After being honored, Messi said to Lewandowski on stage: “Everyone knows that you were the winner last year. I think France Football should give you the 2020 award. You deserve it and you should have it at home too. ”There was a pause at the Golden Ball award last year due to the pandemic.
When asked whether he only took it as a PR scam or meant it as honest, Lewandowski said: "I would like it to be a sincere declaration by a great footballer and not just empty words." However, he is not so fixated on it to actually get the 2020 award. Bayern President Herbert Hainer also spoke out in favor of a subsequent award of the Golden Ball to Lewandowski for the 2020 season. “I think the idea is good,” he said in an interview with “Sport Bild”. "It would be our wish if things got moving."
After a year of golden ball break due to the corona pandemic, Lewandowski had high hopes as the 2020 triple winner, club world champion in 2021 and after an incredible series of goals, after the title of world footballer, also with the one from the French sports magazine "France Football" to be honored. However, it won Messi from Paris Saint-Germain, who had won the Copa America for the first time with Argentina.
Meanwhile, after the chaos at the annual general meeting, Hainer admitted mistakes, but he does not want to change his general course. “After such an evening, we must not allow ourselves to be dissuaded from our path. I am a Bayern fan with heart and soul, and I am passionate about this task, ”said the 67-year-old. But Hainer also admitted a mistake. “With the current knowledge” he would “no longer end the annual general meeting prematurely”, he said: “I didn't want to cut the members off, but at that moment I felt that no objective dialogue would have been possible.”
It had become clear to him that a general meeting of a football club was "much more emotional than a general meeting of a stock corporation". The shouts of “Hainer out” and the heated atmosphere “of course hurt him personally”, revealed the former Adidas boss: “It was not a pleasant thing.” As a consequence, he wanted the opinion of the members on contentious issues such as Qatar sponsorship “Catch up even more intensively in the future”.
Hainer did not want to predict whether the contract with Qatar Airways, which expires in 2023, will be extended or not.
“This topic is complex and, overall, needs to be viewed in a more nuanced way,” he said.
But it is "not an easy task to live up to the expectations of our fans all over the world that their FC Bayern always play at the top internationally - and at the same time our social responsibility."