Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski used Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as motivation – and was even inspired to give them an award.
La Blaugrana's number 9 announced himself to the world with Borussia Dortmund in 2010 and has not looked back. Breaking records and claiming titles along the way with Bayern Munich, the Polish star landed at Messi's former turf in 2022 – a year after the Argentine moved to PSG.
Sharing the main European stage with Messi – and opponent Ronaldo – could have been a situation that could have sparked jealousy. However, the 36-year-old has revealed it's quite the opposite.
As for the iconic duo with ex-Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, Lewandowski admitted on his Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, presented by Qatar Airways, that he was not only egged on by Messi and Ronaldo but also used such motivation against them.
“I used them, yes. I definitely used them, not as inspiration, but to try… to drive myself,” Lewandowski began when host Ferdinand asked him about the duo.
“Not to beat them, but to improve some kind of records, goals, the level I have reached. Of course I didn't want to compare with Lionel Messi or Cristiano, never as a footballer, because they are of course at a different level, in different worlds.”
Lewandowski has faced Messi and Ronaldo a total of thirteen times, losing seven of them. Internationally, his Poland have been stopped once by Argentina, in the group stages of the 2022 World Cup, and twice by Ronaldo's Portugal – this year in the Nations League and in the quarter-finals of Euro 2016.
“But I'm very happy,” Lewandowski added. “I was already a few years behind, behind them, or even in some years I could beat them, like the best player in the world two years in a row, against them.
“So for me, I think I never dreamed of this, to be like Lewandowski, Messi and Ronaldo, who is going to be the FIFA best player in the world, you know. I was there and I won.”
The 36-year-old has been named the pair's FIFA Men's Best Player of the Year twice, in 2020 and 2021, and he also picked up the European Golden Boots for his accolades during those campaigns.
Such individual accolades adorn a trophy cabinet bursting at the seams, as Lewandowski has won ten Bundesliga titles, a Champions League and a La Liga crown with Barcelona, among countless other trophies – although he remains grounded and doesn't compare himself to the iconic duo he sought motivation from.
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