Robert Lewandowski launches fresh swipe at Lionel Messi as personal rivalry intensifies

Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski has launched a fresh swipe at Lionel Messi as the personal rivalry between the two superstars appears to have intensified.

The Poland marksman was crowned 2021 FIFA Best Men's Player last month, pipping second-placed Messi to the crown.

Two months earlier, the Argentine edged out the Pole to win his record-breaking seventh Ballon d'Or title as he landed the 2021 accolade.

The Ballon d’Or vote had led to multiple football legends criticising the decision and claiming that the Bayern striker had been unfairly judged.

Despite netting 38 goals in his final season for Barcelona and winning Argentina’s first international tournament since 1993, things have not gone to plan for Messi since his high-profile summer transfer to Paris Saint-Germain – netting just one domestic goal so far.

Lewandowski has now moved to intensify the personal rivalry between the two by claiming that FIFA’s The Best award is more important to win that the Ballon d’Or.

Lewandowski has never won a Ballon d’Or title – having missed out, in somewhat controversial fashion, to Messi for 2021 and due to the awards being cancelled the year before that.

He claimed that the voting process and nature of the award was more important, even if it was less prestigious than the Ballon d’Or – run by France Football.

Lewandowski told a Polish magazine, as per Marca : "I have been thinking lately and I have come to the conclusion that the FIFA award is more important.

"Only journalists vote for the Ballon d'Or, there is no clear verification.

"Instead, professional football and the press vote for the FIFA award.

"The captains and coaches of each national team can evaluate our performances in a more realistic and