Messi: “Lewandowski’s statements bothered me in 2021, I intentionally let him dribble at the World Cup”

Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski have mutual respect, but there was a time when their relationship was tested and the reason for that was winning the Ballon d’Or in 2021.

It was won by Lionel Messi, with Pulga mentioning at the time that ‘Leva’ deserved the special award last year which was not awarded due to the pandemic, however Lewandowski’s statements reportedly questioned the sincerity of the Argentine’s claims.

Later, the Polish striker spoke of a misinterpretation by the media, but Messi did not forget it and had his blood drawn during the Argentina-Poland World Cup in Qatar, referring to the match at that time in his interview:

“Lewandowski’s comments bothered me because when I won the Ballon d’Or I said things the way I really felt about them and it was annoying for him to talk about me like that.”

I ignored him during the argument between us and was angry with him. “I was very angry and deliberately tattled on him.” Messi first emphasized, then referred to the de-escalation of tensions:

“After what happened, we spoke and agreed it was a misunderstanding. He was upset because what he said wasn’t spelled correctly. Then he went to Barcelona and we talked about a lot of things about the club and the city.”

It is noted that the game against Poland was not the only one that caused Messi to “escape”, as the same thing happened in the quarter-final against the Netherlands, with the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner referring to the conflict created with Louis van Gal.

“The thing with Holland was very similar to that with Lewandowski. It bothers me when people talk off the field and disrespect their opponents. Before the game I didn’t try to make Van Gaal angry.”

I wasn’t disrespectful, I never do that and I don’t like being disrespected. I think Van Gaal did it on purpose, as did their goalkeeper before the game. I don’t like these things. A million things can happen on the field, but they stay there.”