While you're still marvelling at Lionel Messi's greatness, as his list of accomplishments grows ever longer, spare a thought for poor Robert Lewandowski.
The Polish striker agonisingly missed out on the Ballon d’Or trophy yet again on Monday as Messi was once again crowned the greatest footballer on earth for a seventh time in his glittering career.
There was little argument from Lewandowski, who graciously congratulated the Argentine, and he didn't go home empty handed neither, winning the Striker of the Year award for his efforts.
But that will feel like nothing more than a token for the man who should already have one Ballon d'Or in the bank, and you get the sense Lewandowski is destined to be several times the bridesmaid but never the bride.
By all accounts, the prolific Bayern Munich marksman should have the 2020 award sat pride of place at home in his burgeoning trophy cabinet were it not for the Covid-19 pandemic scuppering last year’s ceremony.
He was a shoe-in for the gong after spearheading Bayern’s illustrious treble, which would also have been enough for him to land the top prize this time round.
Sadly it wasn't to be, and even a year that saw him produce staggering numbers on the field only earned him a runner-up spot at Monday's bash at the Theatre du Chatelet.
Among the nominees were Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, whose stranglehold on the trophy has seen just one other winner take home the award in the past 13 years.
A win would have been no less than what Lewandowski deserves, having been one of few players able to truly hold their weight alongside the superstar duo and carve out his own stellar reputation in the pantheon of great strikers.
No other player has found the back of the net more times this calendar year than the 33-year-old, who continues to defy logic and seemingly gets better with each passing season.
Even with the likes of Erling Haaland chasing furiously on his tail, the young Norwegian has barely got within touching distance of Lewandowski’s goal return.
He finished last season’s Bundesliga campaign with an astonishing 41 goals to his name from just 29 appearances, leaving Haaland (27) and Andre Silva (28) trailing in his wake.
In fact, he would been level with Silva’s tally on 28 strikes even if only his goals from the beginning of 2021 been taken into account, which included three hat-tricks in the space of six matches at club level.
Among them was a fine treble against Borussia Dortmund in a game which saw him offer a raise on Haaland’s brace in a 4-2 victory.
It says a lot about Lewandowski’s timelessness that Bayern are barely even considering a move for Dortmund’s hotshot striker despite his release clause coming into play next year, due to their confidence in their own player to maintain his remarkable consistency.
His efforts helped Bayern seal yet another domestic title, though they could not replicate their incredible campaign from the previous year after being knocked out of the Champions League to Paris Saint-Germain on away goals.
A disappointing tournament for Poland at Euro 2020 followed, whereby they were eliminated at the Group Stage after picking up just one point from three matches. Lewandowski still managed to score three times.
Whether that spurred him on to hit the ground running once back with Bayern may well have been the case, given he started the 2021/22 season in rampant form.
Lewandowski scored seven goals in his first four matches (including another hat-trick) prior to the international break in September, where he scored three times for Poland.
Another six goals in five matches followed for Bayern and he is now currently on a run of 12 goals in his last nine matches - and yes, you guessed it, including another hat-trick, this time against Benfica.
His latest Champions League strike was also of the highest quality, a superb overhead kick against Dynamo Kiev for good measure.
Already he has 14 goals in 12 Bundesliga appearances this season, along with nine goals in five Champions League outings.
His numbers are frankly ludicrous, as he boasts 64 goals this calendar year.
At club level alone he is streets ahead of his rivals, averaging a goal almost every hour of play.
When you consider he is 19 goals ahead of Messi and Mohamed Salah and 21 in front of Ronaldo, it’s not difficult to conceive why Lewandowski was Messi's closest challenger for the Ballon d’Or this year.
Even Messi was in awe and felt aggrieved for his fellow professional that he had not been rewarded for his incredible contribution last year.
"I’d like to mention Robert, it’s been a real honour to compete with him," Messi said when collecting his latest award. "I think France Football should award you your 2020 Ballon d’Or, you deserved it.”
By his own admission, Lewandowski himself felt he should have taken the award home last year, only for the organisers to curtail the event.
"We won everything we could with Bayern. In every competition - Bundesliga, German Cup and Champions League - I was the top scorer. I think a player who achieves this would win the Ballon d’Or."
That disappointment barely knocked him off his stride this year, though, and Lewandowski had still been promoting his own case in the lead-up to the ceremony despite Bayern’s reduced trophy haul.
"The possibility of winning the Ballon d'Or means a lot to me, it makes me feel proud, if you look at everything I've achieved, not just this year, last year as well when they cancelled the ceremony, I've won a lot of titles, scored a lot of goals,” Lewandowski told MARCA.
"It would mean a lot to me to win it, having won the Champions League, the Super Cup, the Club World Cup. Breaking Gerd Muller's record of 41 Bundesliga goals was also a big achievement, one which made me very proud and happy. Everyone can see what I have done and keep doing.
"My achievements speak for themselves because my last two years have been a big achievement, not just for me but for any player in history.”
Even Luis Suarez suggested Lewandowski should have received the award ahead of his close friend Messi after his goalscoring exploits.
Manager Julian Nagelsmann was also unsurprisingly part of the bandwagon, declaring: “He deserved the Ballon d’Or last year. And in my opinion, he has to win the [2021] award too, as he has played more consistently than anyone else over the past three years.”
But the sad reality for the striker is that it's now looking increasingly unlikely to ever happen.
This desperately close effort was his best chance at any awards do that has actually been carried out, with next year's now an even tougher ask.
The 2022 award may not even take place until early 2023, with organisers keen to wait until the World Cup in Qatar is over, given that tournament could have a major say in the way the vote goes.
Unfortunately that's not something which works in Lewandowski's favour, given Poland are yet to even book their place at the finals and must navigate a tricky play-off group to do so.
Even if he surpasses what he has achieved this year, he could even be robbed at the last act by a Kylian Mbappe-led France or a Messi-led Argentina.
The criteria for Ballon d’Or winners became slightly skewed when Luka Modric took home the trophy in 2018, suggesting the award was based more on a player’s accomplishments within the year rather than his individual ability.
Few can deny Lewandowski has been the standout performer in the latter category, and while the powers of Messi and Ronaldo are beginning to show slight signs of waning, both will no doubt be making admiring glances at the Pole to wonder quite how he’s doing it.
That’s good enough for the Ballon d’Or alone.
