In an interview with ESPN, Lionel Messi, the iconic figure of Barcelona, openly revealed that he had a conflict with the team’s current striker, Robert Lewandowski.
Messi’s apparent disdain for Lewandowski was evident during the encounter between their national teams, Argentina and Poland, at the Qatar 2022 event.
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Notably, Messi was observed snubbing Lewandowski, and reports suggested that he intentionally singled him out during the match, showcasing his skills through tricks and dribbles.
“Even my grandmother realised that Messi was deliberately confronting Lewandowski,” revealed Messi’s close friend and teammate Di Maria in the Star+ documentary ‘Champions, a year later’, which chronciles La Albiceleste’s journey to a third World Cup title.
“These are things about him that remain inside him sometimes. When someone talks about him, he ends up throwing it at you,” Di Maria added.
“There are people who talk and don’t respect him, and don’t realise that he is the best player in history. So you don’t have to tell him anything, because in the end he ends up getting angry and it makes things worse [for opponents].”
In his interview with ESPN, Messi talked about the disagreement and confessed to being “annoyed” by Lewandowski’s comments after winning The Best awards.
Messi had earlier praised Lewandowski while receiving the 2021 Ballon d’Or, recognizing the ex-Bayern Munich player as deserving the honor in 2020, a year delayed due to the pandemic.
The conflict intensified as Messi abstained from voting for Lewandowski to secure The Best award. This led Lewandowski to convey his struggle in understanding this choice during an interview with the Polish outlet Pilka Nozna.
“I voted for Messi because I appreciate what he did in 2021 and, of course, earlier. Messi voted for me in the Ballon d’Or, and I don’t know why his point of view changed later.
“However, I have no regrets, no complaints, I accepted it, he made his decision and that’s it,” Lewandowski finished.
Back in the present, Messi revealed how he was unhappy with Lewandowski’s words “because when I won the Ballon d’Or and I said what I said, I really felt it.”
Messi corroborated Di Maria’s comments by disclosing that he deliberately dribbled past Lewandowski once more during Argentina’s 2-0 victory over Poland, simply because it was him.
“Then we crossed paths, talked and [realized] it was a misunderstanding. I was upset, I thought I didn’t reciprocate what he said. It was heated.”
