Lewandowski's agent blasts Lionel Messi's "hard to believe" Ballon d'Or victory

The agent of Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski has hit out at the decision to award the 2021 Ballon d'Or title to Lionel Messi.

Messi won his seventh individual title as he scooped the 2021 accolade on Monday night - a new record that takes him two gongs clear of Cristiano Ronaldo, his long-term rival.

The Argentine superstar pipped Lewandowski to the title despite the Polish marksman breaking multiple goal scoring records in the past two-and-a-half seasons, where he has averaged comfortably more than one goal per game.

That was a decision that led to multiple football legends criticising the verdict to award Messi the award ahead of the Bayern star.

Lewandowski's representative Pini Zahavi insists that his client was more deserving of the award and it "does not belong" to Messi.

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Lewandowski has scored 128 goals since the start of the 2019/20 season of which 29 have come in 21 appearances in the Champions League, while bagging 25 times in 20 outings this season.

The player's agent Zahavi has now spoken out against the decision, insisting that "hundreds of millions of fans" across the globe shared his disbelief that Lewandowski had been overlooked.

Zahavi told TZ in Munich: "Big congratulations to Messi: an impressive player and an eternal legend of football, but the Ballon d'Or 2021 does not belong to him. Not this time.

"The Ballon d'Or belongs to Robert Lewandowski. Robert was not robbed, but he is the man who deserves it.

"No wonder that many hundreds of millions of fans find it hard to believe the end result of this prestigious football event.

"Monday evening should have ended with Robert celebrating his first Ballon d'Or."

Lewandowski netted 41 Bundesliga goals in just 28 starts in the league last season - breaking Gerd Muller's long-standing record in the division.

Messi acknowledged Lewandowski's lack of luck in the voting, following on from the cancelation of last year's awards due to Covid - when the Poland international spearheaded Bayern's dominance domestically and in Europe, where they won the Champions League.

Messi said to the Bayern star upon receiving his award: "You deserve your Ballon d'Or. Last year, everyone was in agreement to say that you were the big winner.

"It has been an honour to compete with you Robert, and you deserve your golden ball.

"Hopefully France Football will give it to you, we all know that you should have won it last year and hopefully they will give it to you and you can have it at home."

Messi and Ronaldo have now shared 12 of the last 13 Ballon d'Or titles, with Luka Modric's success in 2018 the only time their dominance has been interrupted.

No German-based player has won the award since Matthias Sammer in 1996, while Lewandowski is just the second outfield player to make the podium from the Bundesliga this century - following Franck Ribery in 2013.