Lewandowski wins 2021 Golden Player

Lewandowski, 33, was voted the best over-21 player in Europe – ahead of Chelsea’s Jorginho and Paris Saint-Germain’s Lionel Messi – by a panel of experts formed by the likes of Lothar Matthäus, Andriy Shevchenko, Edwin van der Sar, Samuel Eto’o, Pavel Nedved, Rui Costa and several more.

It sees the Bayern goalgetter retain the accolade he received last year from Italian magazine Tuttosport, who famously hand out the Golden Boy award.

Watch: Lewandowski chasing fresh records

Although his trophy collection wasn’t as full as 2020, when he swept the board by winning every competition at club level, Lewandowski has still proven himself the best attacker in the world over the last year. His 50 goals in 2021 is 13 more than any other player in Europe’s major leagues – and come from only 38 appearances.

This year the Poland captain has picked up his sixth Bundesliga top scorer canon – and his fourth in a row – after he broke Gerd Müller’s historic league record of 40, netting 41 times in only 29 games. He’s continued that form into this season with 14 from the first 12 Bundesliga matchdays.

That saw Lewandowski collect the European Golden Shoe, while he’s still the reigning Best FIFA Men’s Player and is a frontrunner for the 2021 Ballon d’Or after missing out on that honour when it was cancelled last year.

Watch: Lewandowski wins the European Golden Shoe

He will be presented with the award at the ceremony in Turin on 13 December, by which time he will know if the Golden Player trophy will be joining a Ballon d’Or in his collection. The winner of that will be announced on 29 November in Paris.