A hard accusation against a roughneck of football – and the kicker reacts: very soft!
During the week, world footballer Robert Lewandowski named the toughest opponent of his career in an interview with the Polish magazine “Kwartalnik Sportowy”: Carlos Zambrano. “All he wanted was to break my legs. He didn’t even look at the ball.”
Now the Peruvian has replied, writing via Instagram: “Dear Robert Lewandowski, thank you for remembering me so fondly. This is football, my friend. We always play hard, we all give our lives on the pitch. But nothing happens out of spite.”
Zambrano continued, “I respect you for your exceptional professionalism and collegiality. It was an honor to play against you. Good luck and best regards.”
Forgiving tones, which in retrospect might also make Lewandowski more merciful.
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Source: Sportdigital
In the interview, the Polish striker was “annoyed that the referee didn’t see it. Defenders are often allowed to do more than strikers, it’s not an equal fight.”
Lewandowski had played a total of five times against Zambrano in the Bundesliga and in the DFB Cup. In those five games, the forward didn’t score a single goal.
Zambrano came to Germany in July 2006 when he was still 16 and initially played for Schalke 04’s youth team. In the 2009/2010 season he played for the Royal Blues in the Bundesliga, later also for FC St. Pauli and from 2012 to 2016 for Eintracht Frankfurt. Zambrano received 52 (!) yellow cards and two yellow-red cards in 137 games in the Bundesliga.
This was followed by positions at Rubin Kazan, Dynamo Kyiv and FC Basel. The now 33-year-old has been under contract with Argentinian club Boca Juniors since January 2020.
