Barcelona striker, Robert Lewandowski, has insisted he has no ill feelings towards PSG’s Lionel Messi surrounding the 2020 Ballon d’Or.
The 2020 edition of the award was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Messi later asked for Lewandowski to be given the prize anyway in recognition of the striker’s fine season with Bayern Munich.
Lewandowski reportedly said he hoped Messi’s words were not “empty words,” before later clarifying those attributed quotes.
Speaking at Poland’s welcome news conference in Doha, the 34-year-old was asked if he would make a public show of shaking Messi’s hand when the two of them meet at the 2022 World Cup, Lewandowski asked the journalist to clarify his comments, saying: “I don’t understand the question.”
Lewandowski then followed up with, “why would I need to shake hands? Between me and Messi I have nothing [bad] with him, I never had.”
The journalist responded with a clarification to the question, and Lewandowski responded: “Where and when [did I say] that? I do not remember I said it like that. Maybe you saw it on Instagram and someone thought I said it like that, but it was not me.”
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