Lionel Messi has revealed the only time he tried to ‘humiliate’ an opponent during his career on the football pitch, which came in Argentina’s match against Poland at the 2022 World Cup. The Barcelona legend admitted that he wanted to embarrass Robert Lewandowski during the game.
The reason for Messi’s fury was because of comments made by his opponent in the build-up to the 2021 Ballon d’Or ceremony, where Messi triumphed to win the honour for the seventh time in his career. Many, however, thought that Lewandowski should have picked up the prize, after he scored a record-breaking 41 goals in the Bundesliga in just 29 matches. And the comments the striker made after the ceremony ensured that there was tension when the two met at the World Cup.
Lewandowski’s Ballon d’or Statement ‘Bothered’ Messi
‘I was very angry’
Messi, recognising Lewandowski’s achievements at the Ballon d’Or ceremony, mentioned the Polish striker in his acceptance speech in 2021: “I’d like to mention Robert [Lewandowski], it’s been a real honour to compete with him.” But that did not go down well with the then Bayern Munich man.
Lewandowski would subsequently label Messi’s comments as “empty words.” And that infuriated the Argentine, who said he wanted to humiliate his opponent the next time they met.
“Lewandowski’s statement in 2021 bothered me because when I won the Ballon d’Or, I said what I really felt,” Messi told ESPN. “I ignored him during the game because it was him, and I was angry and thought he shouldn’t have said what he said. I was very angry. Was I deliberately dribbling because it was him? Yes.”
Messi’s teammate, Angel Di Maria, told Marca that he recognised what his teammate was trying to do to his opponent: “I realised it, you realised it, my grandmother realised it. These are things of his, that sometimes stay inside him. When you talk about him, he ends up throwing it to you in a note or he does it to you in a court.”
However, Messi did add that the pair talked about their issues after the game, saying that the entire issue was a misunderstanding. Lewandowski had since moved to Barcelona, and quizzed Messi about his time at the Camp Nou.
“After that, we met and talked and agreed that it was a misunderstanding,” the Argentine said. “He was upset because what he said didn’t match what was reported. Then he went to Barcelona, and we talked about many things about the club, the city and everything.”