&w=3840&q=100)
Robert Lewandowski to no longer play for Poland with coach Michal Probierz
Robert Lewandowski will no longer play for Poland while Michal Probierz remains head coach, the Barcelona striker said.
The 36-year-old Poland captain, who has played a record 158 games for his country and is the leading scorer with 85 goals, cited tiredness from a La Liga title-winning season with Barcelona for pulling out of last Friday's 2-0 friendly win over Moldova and Tuesday's World Cup qualifier against Finland.
Probierz subsequently named Inter Milan midfielder Piotr Zielinski as the new captain.
The Polish soccer association said: Piotr Zielinski has been named the new captain of the national team by head coach Michal Probierz. The coach personally informed Robert Lewandowski, the entire team and the coaching staff of his decision.
Lewandowski replied with a post on X: Taking into account the circumstances and the loss of trust in the head coach of the Polish national team, I have decided to step down from playing for the national team for as long as he remains in charge. I hope I will still have the chance to play again for the best fans in the world.
Lewandowski suffered an injury to his left thigh on April 19 in a La Liga match against Celta Vigo and was sidelined for two weeks. He missed four games, including a thrilling 3-3 Champions League semifinal first leg against Inter in Barcelona.
He recovered in time for the second leg and was used as substitute in a 4-3 defeat that sent Inter to the final.
Poland leads World Cup Group G qualifying with two wins from two games.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Lewandowski 'betrayed and hurt' by way he lost Poland captaincy
-Poland striker Robert Lewandowski said his trust had been betrayed and he was very hurt by the way coach Michal Probierz told him he was being replaced as team captain. The country's record goalscorer immediately announced on social media that he would not play for the national team under Probierz who made the decision to appoint midfielder Piotr Zielinski as captain. Lewandowski told news website on Monday that he received a short call from Probierz as he was putting his children to sleep and that a statement about him losing the captaincy soon appeared on the Polish football federation website. "I wore the armband for 11 years, and I've been playing in the national team for 17," Lewandowski was quoted as saying. "It seemed to me that such matters should be handled differently... we have an important match ahead of us, and everything was communicated over the phone. This is really not how it should be. The coach betrayed my trust." Lewandowski said the national team had always been the most important thing for him and that he was "very hurt" by the way the decision to strip him of the armband was communicated. Probierz is due to hold a press conference on Monday afternoon. Lewandowski is not in the current Poland squad, citing physical and mental exhaustion after a long season as the reason for his absence. The 36-year-old, who has scored 85 goals for his country in a record 158 appearances, had held the captaincy since 2014. Probierz replaced the sacked Fernando Santos as Poland manager in 2023, taking them to Euro 2024 where his side were the first team to be eliminated. Poland defeated Moldova 2-0 in a friendly on Friday and are away to Finland in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday.
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
Robert Lewandowski lashes out at Poland coach: ‘I am hurt, was removed from captaincy in one-minute phone call'
The football controversy in Poland over their long-time captain Robert Lewandowski's quitting the team due to his fractured relationship with the coach has taken another dimension now. In a fresh interview, Lewandowski has said he took the decision because he didn't like the way the coach conveyed the decision to strip him of his captaincy over a one-minute phone call. 'I got a surprise call from coach Michał Probierz that he had decided to take away my armband (captaincy). I was not prepared for it at all, I was putting my children to sleep. The conversation lasted about a minute. I didn't even have time to inform my family or talk to anyone about what had happened, because a few moments later a message appeared on the PZPN website. The way in which this was communicated to me is really surprising to me,' Lewandowski told WP Sportive Fakty. Lewandowski has been captain for 11 years now. 'I haven't been captain for a year or two. I've been wearing the armband for eleven years and I've been playing in the national team for seventeen. It seemed to me that such matters should be handled differently. Especially since there's a lot of time until the next training camp. In addition, we have an important match ahead of us and everything was communicated over the phone. It really shouldn't be like this. The coach betrayed my trust,' he said. He did also go on to mention that the national team has 'always been the most important thing' to him. 'At the same time, I'm very hurt by what happened. It's not even about the decision about the armband, but about the way it was communicated to me,' he said. 'Probierz said that he saw my last interview and decided to give the armband to Piotr Zieliński to make it easier for me to function in the squad and to take the pressure off me. I really don't care about the armband itself. I believe in Piotr Zieliński and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for him.' Grzegorz Lato, former Polish player, backed the coach and criticised Lewandowski in an interview with WP Sportowe Fakty. 'Who wouldn't be surprised? I can't imagine a player – no matter what his name is – choosing his coach and threatening the national team that he won't play as long as the coach is present. This is unacceptable to me. I thought someone was making a joke on the internet,' Lato said. Several Polish media outlets have also claimed that the players gave a standing ovation when the coach announced that he had taken the decision to remove Lewandowski as the captain.
NDTV
2 hours ago
- NDTV
Wasim Akram's Life-Size Statue In Pakistan's Hyderabad Triggers Memes, Jokes On Social Media
The state of Pakistan cricket is in a complete mess as their team filed to live up to the expectations. From the league stage elimination in the ODI World Cup 2023 to the group stage exit in the T20 World Cup in 2024, Pakistan men's cricket team hit new lows in every tournament. Apart from the failure of the players, another aspect which marred the Pakistan cricket are the constant changes in their board. As a result of this downfall, cricket fans around the world are slowly forgetting the contributions made by the greats like Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram, Imran Khan and others. Recently, former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram was honoured with a life-size statue at Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad, Pakistan. However, this honour turned out to be a laughing stock for the viewers due to its bizarre appearance. The statute showed Akram doing his legendary bowling action and sported Pakistan's 1992 World Cup jersey. However, the face of the statue had some resemblance with famous Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone and the fans showed no mercy. Wasim Akram looking at this statue — Asad 🇵🇸 (@A_sadkermit) June 5, 2025 Wasim Akram as modelled by Sylvester Stallone — AmerCric (@Amermalik12) June 5, 2025 Wasim Akram's statue at Hyderabad stadium @wasimakramlive fainted after watching this — Raza Hashmey (@papabureau87) June 5, 2025 Talking about Akram, the legendary pacer played 104 Tests and 256 ODIs for Pakistan between 1984 and 2003. In Tests, he took a whopping total of 414 wickets while in ODIs, he took 502 wickets. He announced his retirement from international cricket after Pakistan's elimination from the 2003 World Cup. After calling time on his playing career, Akram took up coaching jobs and even coached the IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders between 2010 to 2016. Earlier, during an interaction with VU Sports, Akram narrated an incident from IPL 2012, when SRK arranged a Boeing for the entire team, in order to give the players some rest before the knockout match. "I think this happened during the 2012 IPL season. Our knockout match was in Kolkata, and I remember we were going to arrive via, via some place. Shah Rukh Khan was there, so I asked him, 'Khan saab, ek request hai (Mr Khan, I have a request)'. I said, 'Ladke bade thak jayenge, hum kal pahunchenge, parso match hai. Toh agar ek private plane (The team will get extremely tired. We'll reach tomorrow, and the match is the day after. If a private plane could be arranged)...'" said Akram. "He said, 'Thak jayenge ladke? Koi problem nahi (They'll get tired you say, no problem)'. Within one hour, pura Boeing jahaaz khada tha for the whole team," Akram added.
