“You have to stay neutral” – Lewandowski explains why he voted for Jorginho ahead of Messi and Ronaldo at the Best FIFA awards

The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award winner Robert Lewandowski has explained why he voted for Jorginho instead of Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. The Bayern Munich forward believes he took a “neutral” view of the nominees and adjudged the Chelsea midfielder to be better than the two veteran superstars.

In a star-studded event in Zurich, FIFA awarded the best athletes of the sport on Monday night. Bayern’s Polish forward Robert Lewandowski won The Best Men’s Player award, beating the other two finalists, Lionel Messi and Mohamed Salah, to the punch.

For the first time in the award ceremony’s history, Cristiano Ronaldo did not make the final-three shortlist. FIFA, however, did not let the Manchester United star leave empty-handed.

They honored him with a Special Award for becoming the all-time leading international goalscorer. Ronaldo’s arch-rival, Messi, on the other hand, did not have such luck, but he was unsurprisingly included in FIFPro World XI.

In the aftermath of the ceremony, all votes were made public, including Lewandowski’s. Surprisingly, the Poland international gave his top vote to Jorginho, instead of any nominated forward. His second and third votes went to Messi and Ronaldo, respectively.

Explaining his vote, Lewandowski said it was important for him to be neutral and reward Jorginho for his Champions League and Euro-winning performances.

Speaking in a presser, the former Borussia Dortmund man said:

"I always look at the attacking players, but what Jorginho has won also means a lot. You have to stay neutral. Jorginho also scored important goals and showed a great style of play."

In 2021, Jorginho became the first player in history to win the Champions League and European Championship in the same calendar year. Surprisingly, he was practically never in contention to win the prestigious individual accolade by football’s biggest governing body.

Messi and Ronaldo did not vote for each other at The Best FIFA Football Awards

While Lewandowski’s votes have stirred up some controversy, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s votes were hardly unorthodox. To no one’s surprise, the Argentine and the Portuguese did not spare a vote for one another.

The PSG forward’s top vote went to Neymar, the second vote to Kylian Mbappe, and his third went to Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema. The Manchester United number 7, on the other hand, voted for Lewandowski, Jorginho, and N’Golo Kante, in that order.