Robert Lewandowski was one of several FC Barcelona winners at the Ballon d’Or gala in Paris on Monday, collecting the newly created Gerd Müller Trophy, which goes to the season’s top scorer who combines goals for club and country.
The striker, who has 14 goals in 13 appearances for Barcelona so far, had a fantastic season at Bayern Munich in 2012/13, scoring 50 goals in 46 games (a goal every 80 minutes) and also finding the net seven times for Poland.
He finished the calendar year 2021 with 69 goals (58 for Bayern and 11 for Poland), the most since Leo Messi broke the world record with 91 goals in 2012.
Speaking after collecting his prize, Lewandowski said “this is especially important to me because of the name. Müller was a major inspiration for me. It was always a challenge to chase his stats but I never imagined I’d beat his goalscoring record in the Bundesliga.”
He made a special point of mentioning his former Bayern colleagues, but also remembered his current Barça squad members. “You can only score goals if you work in collaboration with your team-mates” he said. “So this trophy is about them too.”
“I’m very happy to be at Barça. I have arrived at a time when everyone has to work hard to achieve something big. It’s a great club and I feel very comfortable. I think I have a big challenge in front of me, but since the very first moment I could see how much potential everyone has.”
The award was named after one of the greatest goal scorers of all time, Gerd Müller, who sadly died on August 15, 2021. ‘The Torpedo’ is Bayern Munich’s all-time leading scorer, followed by the first man to receive ‘his’ award, Robert Lewandowski.
