Poland striker Robert Lewandowski has said that his national team manager, Michał Probierz, betrayed his trust.
He recently shared that it’ll be hard to forget the events that led to him stepping away from international football this week.
Speaking during an interview with SportoweFakty, Lewandowski revealed that he stepped away from the national team because his coach stripped him of the captaincy with no prior notice.
According to him, the way Michal went about making the decision hurt him deeply, and he feels like the manager should have definitely handled things better.
Lewa stated that he was still putting his kids to sleep when the coach called him to break the news, and the conversation was so brief that it only lasted a few minutes.
Poland’s record goalscorer disclosed that he had not even finished processing the shocking news when he saw the report break online.
The Barcelona forward maintained that as someone who has worn the armband for 11 years and played for the national team for 17 years, he certainly deserved more respect.
“I got a surprise call from Probierz with the information that he had decided to take away the armband.
I was not prepared for it at all, I was putting my children to bed. The conversation lasted a few minutes. I didn’t even have time to tell my family what had happened, because a few moments later it appeared online.
I’ve been wearing the armband for 11 years and playing for the national team for 17. It seemed to me that such matters should be handled differently.
Everything was communicated over the phone. It really shouldn’t be like this. The coach betrayed my trust.
I’ve always given everything to the national team, it’s always been the most important thing to me, but I’m very hurt by what happened,” he said.
Lewandowski further clarified that he is not pained about the captaincy decision, stressing that the manner the decision was communicated to him was very disrespectful.
He concluded by saying the decision not to make himself available for games against Moldova and Finland was made alongside the coach, therefore, they had no prior issues.
“It’s not even about the decision regarding the armband, but the way it was communicated to me.
I really don’t care about the armband itself. I believe in Zieliński and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for him.
I have the impression that the coach caved in to the media pressure. He broke agreements we had and that’s why I’m surprised by his attitude.
The decision that I wouldn’t come to the training camp was made together with the coach. I called him to ask what he thought about me getting some rest. He said that he supported it and that he was even thinking about calling me about it.
In football, trust is a very important factor. If you want to be successful, you have to pull in the same direction.
Sometimes you can disagree with someone and that is normal. However, things have happened that will be hard to forget,” he added.
