Champions League winner ‘could be awarded Ballon d’Or FOUR YEARS late’ in never-before-seen move

ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI could win the Ballon d’Or FOUR YEARS late – in a move almost as remarkable as his 2019-20 season.

Covid restrictions robbed the striker of football’s top individual gong – despite his 55-goal campaign helping Bayern Munich win the Treble.

Lewandowski, now with Barcelona, is arguably the greatest modern-day men’s star never to have picked up the award.

And in 2021, when Lionel Messi picked up the seventh of his record eight Ballons d’Or, the Argentine revealed everyone believed the Polish goal machine had been cruelly denied 12 months earlier.

Messi told the ceremony: “Robert, you deserve your Ballon d’Or. Last year, everyone was in agreement to say that you were the big winner of this award.”

Now Diario Sport journalist Ivan San Antonio claims France Football are considering handing Lewandowski the gong retrospectively. 

It’s understood no final decision has been made over such an unprecedented step.

But Lewandowski would reportedly be delighted to get the award – rather than frustrated at missing out when the prestigious occasion was ditched for the first time in 64 years.

OneFootball quote the 35-year-old as saying: “If I won the Ballon d’Or four years later, I wouldn’t feel offended.

“It would be a great honour and I would accept the award.”

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Lewandowski’s 2019-20 term has few equals for goalscoring.

He failed to net when Bayern completed the Treble with a 1-0 victory over PSG in the Champions League final – the only time he has won that tournament.

But Lewandowski’s 55 goals in all domestic football was 16 more than his nearest rival in Europe’s big five leagues – with 34 strikes coming in his 31 Bundesliga matches.

Apart from winning the European Golden Shoe, he was also named Fifa’s Men’s Player of the Year – which only added to the anger from many fans and pundits when the Ballon d’Or awards were cancelled.

The 148-cap hero won the German crown eight times in a row and, since joining Barca in 2022, has added one LaLiga title.

And apart from his own record-breaking, he stands to become his country’s first ever Ballon d’Or winner – if France Football does opt to roll back the years.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk