"He's probably one of the favourites to win" - Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski names his pick for Ballon d'Or this year
Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski has admitted that Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema is the favorite to win the 2022 Ballon d'Or, per GOAL.
Benzema had an extraordinary 2021-22 campaign that saw him score 44 goals in 46 appearances across competitions.
The Frenchman led his Madrid side to a UEFA Champions League and La Liga double, finishing as the top scorer in both.
Many are touting Benzema as the favorite to win the individual award on October 17, and Lewandowski admits he is a frontrunner:
“He’s probably one of the favourites to win the Ballon d’Or."
Lewandowski then took a sly dig at the France Football award, saying:
"Of course if they don’t cancel it, then probably he’s going to win this Ballon d’Or, yeah.”
The award was canceled in 2020, when Lewandowski was the outright favorite to win the trophy.
The Pole had scored 55 goals and contributed 10 assists in the 2019-2020 season as Bayern won the Champions League, the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal.
He then missed out to Lionel Messi the following year despite being favored to finally claim the honor and it seems he will once again miss out this year.
Robert Lewandowski has scored 14 goals this season. Only Erling Haaland (20) has more.
The last time he played in the Europa League was in the 2010/11 season with Borussia Dortmund.
He came to Barça with the ambition of winning the Ballon d'Or. https://t.co/5UY7VVBSy1
The Barcelona forward is expected to be among the nominees to finish in the top five of the individual award.
He managed 50 goals in 46 appearances across competitions while at Bayern Munich as the Bavarians won the Bundesliga title.
Benzema's extraordinary 2021-22 campaign sees him as the favorite, although Lewandowski did have a memorable season of his own.
Lewandowski can stake his claim for the 2023 Ballon d'Or in El Clasico this weekend
Lewandowski will come up against Benzema this weekend in El Clasico on October 16.
The Pole can make the perfect statement of his intentions of finally winning the Ballon d'Or next year with a masterful performance against Madrid.
He did win FIFA's 'The Best' award and UEFA's Player of the Year award in 2020, but the Ballon d'Or still evades him.
Raúl González: "Lewandowski is a great signing for La Liga, he is showing his quality... But I hope Benzema wins the goalscoring battle on Sunday." https://t.co/BY2LIjW55T
Barca and Madrid are currently joint-top of the La Liga table, winning seven and drawing one of their eight league fixtures.
The Blaugrana do hold a superior goal difference of six over Los Blancos and a large part of that is down to Lewandowski's red-hot form.
The former Bayern striker has bagged nine goals in eight league appearances and will be looking to cause havoc against Madrid on Sunday.