Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski used Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as motivation – and was even inspired to pip them to an award.
La Blaugrana’s No. 9 announced himself to the world with Borussia Dortmund in 2010 and hasn’t looked back. Breaking records and claiming titles along the way with Bayern Munich, the Polish star landed in Messi’s former stomping ground in 2022 – a year after the Argentinian jumped ship for PSG.
Sharing the premier European stage with Messi - and adversary Ronaldo - may have been a situation that could have induced envy. However, the 36-year-old has revealed that it is quite the opposite.
Touching on the iconic pair with ex-Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, on his Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, presented by Qatar Airways, Lewandowski admitted that he was not only driven on by Messi and Ronaldo but used such motivation against them.
“I used them, yeah. I used them for sure, not as inspiration, but to try... To drive yourself,” Lewandowski began, when asked about the duo by host Ferdinand.
“Not to beat them, but to beat some kind of records, goals, the level that I achieved. Of course, I didn't want to compare with Lionel Messi or Cristiano, never as a football player, because, of course, they are on a different level, different worlds.”
Lewandowski has faced off against Messi and Ronaldo a combined 13 times, losing seven of them. On the international stage, his Poland have been stopped by Argentina once, in the 2022 World Cup group stage, and twice by Ronaldo’s Portugal - in the Nations League this year and in the quarter-finals of Euro 2016.
“But, I'm very happy,” Lewandowski added. “I was like some years behind already, behind them, or like even in some years that I could beat them, like the best player in the world in two years in a row, against them.
“So, for me, I think that I never dreamed about this, to be like Lewandowski, Messi and Ronaldo, who's going to win the FIFA best player in the world, you know. I was there and I won.”
The 36-year-old has twice been named FIFA Men’s Best Player of the Year over the pair, in 2020 and 2021, and he also picked up European Golden Boots during those campaigns for his tallies.
Such individual awards grace a trophy cabinet bursting at the seams, as Lewandowski has won 10 Bundesliga titles, a Champions League, and a La Liga crown with Barcelona, among countless other cups – though he remains grounded, not comparing himself to the iconic duo he sought motivation from.