Robert Lewandowski is among the leading contenders for The Best FIFA Men s Player in 2020 after he was named among 11 nominees on Wednesday.
The Bayern Munich superstar fired his side to the treble in 2019-20 and has continued his outstanding form at the start of the new season.
With no Ballon d Or this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, FIFA s award represents Lewandowski s best chance of recognition for a standout year.
He has tough competition in the form of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and four Liverpool players, but the 32-year-old must surely be considered the frontrunner.
Lewandowski s potential success in this category would be built on Bayern s Champions League triumph and Opta data in that competition since the start of last season helps make his case.
LEADING THE WAY
Virgil van Dijk ran Messi close in 2019, but this year s top honour surely belongs to an attacker particularly with the Liverpool centre-back and Sergio Ramos playing just eight and seven games respectively over this span due to injury and suspension.
Lewandowski is therefore the obvious choice. He has scored 17 goals in 13 games; for contrast, Messi has six goals and Ronaldo five.
The Poland international has benefited from playing at the forefront of a brilliant team, however, and has had by far the most shots of any player in this time.
Four of our treble-winners have been nominated for The Best FIFA Football Awards!
Best Player:
Best Goalkeeper:
Best Coach: Hansi
Congrats, guys!
— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN)
His 63 attempts outperform Messi s second-placed 48 by 15. Ronaldo is third with 47, with the leading five shot-takers all nominated as Mohamed Salah (42) and Kylian Mbappe (41) are next on that list.
But Lewandowski has made the most of these opportunities, hitting the target 36 times another high.
The striker s shot conversion rate of 27.0 per cent far outstrips Salah (14.3 per cent), Neymar (13.3 per cent), Sadio Mane (12.5 per cent), Messi (also 12.5 per cent), Mbappe (12.2 per cent) and Ronaldo (10.6 per cent).
For balance, Ramos is the leading scorer among defenders in this period, netting three goals.
MISSED THE CUT
Although Thiago Alcantara, who has since departed for Liverpool, was included, it was perhaps slightly surprising to see only two members of Bayern s treble-winning team make the list.
The players who created Lewandowski s opportunities went unrewarded.
Joshua Kimmich has a joint-high seven assists and has created the most chances of any player with 38. Thomas Muller played 31 key passes.
Similarly, at Paris Saint-Germain, where Neymar and Mbappe are considered, Angel Di Maria supplied six assists, 24 chances and 12 big chances.
One admission who will surely make the cut in the years to come is Erling Haaland, widely considered the heir to Lewandowski s crown as the Bundesliga s leading marksman.
Love playing in the !
— Erling Haaland (@ErlingHaaland)
The 20-year-old Borussia Dortmund man, who was named the 2020 Golden Boy, is the only player to come close to Lewandowski s level of productivity in the Champions League.
Despite playing the first half of last season at Salzburg, who did not qualify from their group, Haaland has 16 goals in just 12 games.
Serge Gnabry, another team-mate of Lewandowski s, is third for goals behind the pair but has a relatively modest nine.
Of Haaland s 40 shots, 24 have hit the target a tally beaten only by Lewandowski and matched by Messi (from eight more attempts). A shot conversion rate of 40 per cent is the best mark of any player with 40 or more shots.
This might well be Lewandowski s year, but the future is not far away.
