WORLD SOCCER PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Robert LEWANDOWSKI 2020
Success…Lewy saw off De Bruyne and Ronaldo to win the award
Worthy recognition after Ballon d’Or snub
B
ayern Munich, Robert Lewandowski and Hansi Flick made voting for this year’s awards incredibly easy by being quite clearly the best Team, Player and Manager in the world respectively. Their achievements made this year’s results the most comprehensive for a while. The fact that so many of their other players also picked up votes demonstrates just how good they’ve been, and, in most cases, is testament to Flick’s coaching ability too: under his guidance, Alphonso Davies has gone from a promising young winger to one of the world’s best full-backs, while Joshua Kimmich has made the reverse transition, switching from marauding right-back to midfield dictator. Serge Gnabry’s rise from Premier League reject to world-class winger has been well-documented, but there is no doubt that Flick has had a massive influence on him too. Even the team’s most experienced players have benefitted from the former Germany assistant’s tutelage: captain Manuel Neuer was a popular choice among voters after returning to top form following injury problems, while
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PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Thomas Muller has developed into the team’s creator-in-chief – registering a Bundesliga record 21 assists – just a year after being discarded from the German national team. Both Neuer and Muller made it into the top ten. But it was goalscorer extraordinaire Lewandowski who stole the show. “He is the most professional player I have ever met,” said Pep Guardiola of Lewandowski. High praise indeed from a man who has spent his entire coaching career working with only the elite. Yet while the legendary Poland
striker has always been an exceptional talent, in 2020 he secured his status as undoubtedly one of the finest centreforwards of his generation, with the 32-year-old’s goalscoring exploits guiding Bayern Munich to a famous Champions League, Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal treble. Since 2008, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated the prestigious World Soccer Player award, with Xavi and Luka Modric bucking the trend in 2010 and 2018 respectively. Yet only Messi – in 2012 and 2015
Celebrations… another goal for Lewy
