July 25, (THEWILL) – In a largely expected decision, Robert Lewandowski, the sensational Bayern Munich forward, was announced the winner of Germany’s Footballer of the Year award for 2021 after he received an incredible 356 of the 563 Kicker magazine votes cast in the draw.
It is the second consecutive win for Lewandoski after he produced the performance of a lifetime last season where he scored in every match of the 2019/2020 campaign except in two League games. There was every likelihood that he was a favourite to pick up the Ballon d’Or last year except it was shelved due to the pandemic.
The 32-year-old continued from where he stopped last season early in the 2020/2021 season to carry the challenge Bayern posed in all competitions and to finish the season with a solid defense of his crown from the previous season after winning the domestic trophy in yet another record-breaking season.
The consecutive honour comes as a recognition from Kicker voters of Lewandowski’s achievements. The voters made their views felt by giving the Polish forward 63% of the 563 votes. It was an overwhelming cast and Thomas Muller, his teammate and closest rival came second.
In his remarks after learning of the honour, Lewandoski said it was a thing of “honour” and “great pride and joy” to defend the trophy especially as it helped the Bavarian champions to another Bundesliga trophy.
The Pole said: “I know what a great honour this is. It’s a source of great pride and joy for me, because it’s rare for someone to win the title of Footballer of the Year in Germany twice in a row.”
As THEWILL reported, the record-setting feats of Bayern’s clinical forward reached new levels last season after Lewandoski scored an unbelievable 41 goals in 29 league matches to break the long-standing 1971/1972 season goal-scoring record set by Gerd Muller, which seemed impossible to reach, much less surpass.
An injury layoff during international duty stopped him from overtaking the milestone earlier and it took the striker until the final day of the season, where he scored in a 5-2 win over Augsburg to write his name into the history books of German football as one of the best all-time strikers.
To one-up his earlier tally, the former Borussia Dortmund hitman failed to score just once in the Bundesliga in 2021. He found the net 24 times in just 17 matches. Despite that injury that left him out of four league matches, he was still able to set such a high bar, although it was unfortunate that his injury also coincided with Bayern’s exit from the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain.
Many believe that his presence could have made a difference in that UEFA exit but there was nothing that could be done about his circumstances and he could not feature.
Still, Lewandoski hit five hat-tricks over the course of the season, and was once again the driving force behind a convincing title charge. Lewandowski also starred at Euro 2020, scoring three goals for his nation before their early exit.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
