Robert Lewandowski not the only player 'robbed' by hasty Ballon d’Or cancellation

Poor old Robert Lewandowski. A 34-goal Bundesliga haul and nothing to show for it, except for another Bundesliga trophy, Bundesliga medal, Bundesliga Player of the Season award, and maybe even a European Golden Shoe.

Poor Karim Benzema, too, who spearheaded Real Madrid to the Liga title – their first post Cristiano Ronaldo – and was backed to win the Ballon d’Or by head coach Zinedine Zidane and club president Florentino Perez.

In the grand scheme of things, in the midst of a pandemic, the cancellation of an individual award handed out by a weekly football magazine is no big deal. There is always next year, and it wasn’t quite a level playing field this time around – but try telling Lewandowski that.

A fourth-placed finish in 2015 is as high as Lewandowski has managed in the Ballon d’Or stakes, and in a year where the 31-year-old has improved his already alarming goalscoring rate, he has been denied the chance of placing a golden ball alongside his other accolades on the mantelpiece.

France Football gave a reasonable explanation as to why there will be no Ballon d’Or for the first time since 1956.

“We believe that such a singular year cannot - and should not - be treated as an ordinary one,” France Football editor-in-chief Pascal Ferre said.

There was a clear desire not to place an asterisk next to this year’s award, but that would not have been necessary anyway. No such * has been placed next to Lewandowski’s Bundesliga achievements, nor Benzema’s title-winning exploits in Spain. And no, there is no asterisk on Liverpool’s triumph either, with a handful of their players all top-10 shouts at the very least.

The cancellation somewhat undermines the hard work certain players have accomplished, with one player missing out on a little slice of history that has long been dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Both Messi and Ronaldo would have been in contention, too, but for Lewandowski and Benzema to enjoy arguably their best seasons, in their early 30s, and miss a chance to beat the fabled duo – it doesn’t quite sit right.

Ligue 1’s premature termination – with some 10 rounds to go – is France Football’s biggest case in point when disputing the Ballon d’Or’s legitimacy, but should that really lead to its postponement?

After all, Paris Saint-Germain are still in Champions League contention, with the competition set for a fast-tracked finish in Lisbon next month.

PSG could yet clinch the Champions League, at last, and Kylian Mbappe could be the catalyst for that. Replace PSG with Manchester City, Mbappe with Kevin De Bruyne, and you argue the Belgian is worthy of an award that will no longer be given out as well.

Of course, Champions League glory is no guarantee (ask Virgil van Dijk), but it usually goes some way to deciding the Ballon d’Or winner.

Should Bayern win it, then it would only double down on the belief Lewandowski was ‘robbed’, while a handful of other players will feel aggrieved too knowing Champions League victory would have enhanced their own chances.

And so, perhaps that is why the decision has been made now. To prevent another month of talk building up to the Champions League, before another few months of debate ahead of awards night.

Messi would have just won again anyway, right? Now we’ll never know.