Robert Lewandowski took the next and potentially final step of a glittering football career when he was unveiled as a Chicago Fire player on July 14. The Polish all-time top-scorer joined the Major League Soccer club in a two-year Designated Player deal after his contract with FC Barcelona expired at the start of the summer.
Lewandowski was presented the Fire’s number nine shirt in front of the media. The unveiling was made with an eye of handing Lewandowski his debut against the Vancouver Whitecaps, given the Fire currently sit third in the Major League Soccer eastern conference and are firmly in the race for the playoffs.
Even though bad weather prevented the match from going through, Lewandowski was not to know at the time. The Pole gleefully posed for photographs and appeared his relaxed self as he sat down for a press conference alongside head coach and director of football Gregg Berhalter.
However a rather important person expected to be a part of such occasions was noticeably missing. In Lewandowski’s entourage there was no Anna Lewandowska, his long-time partner with whom he has two children.
The absence soon turned into a national sensation when Lewandowska was instead spotted in her own part of the world.
The former martial-arts champion was photographed at the Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny’s sold-out show in Warsaw as part of his ‘Debi Tirar Mas Fotos World Tour’.
The fact that Lewandowska missed a milestone moment in her husband’s career for a concert did not go down well with fans.
The criticism forced Lewandowski to try clear the air online himself.
“Relax, my biggest fan cheers me on from every spot on earth – sometimes from the stands, sometimes in front of the TV on the way to a concert, because she has a ton of work herself. Proud of her as always! You danced enough for both of us! ♥️ ♥️ ❤️🕺”, wrote Lewandowski in the comments on Anna’s post.
But the fans were having none of it. Given Anna plays a role in managing Lewandowski’s professional career, some correctly pointed out that there was no way to verify whether the footballer had made the comment himself. The polished and extravagant language made some suggest Anna must have access to Lewandowski’s account and wrote the comment herself to quieten the controversy.
No wonder the skepticism, given Anna’s past controversy with the Polish national team.
Anna Lewandowska is a former celebrated athlete herself with three World Championship medals, six European medals, and 20-plus national medals in martial arts. Following her marriage to Lewandowski in 2013, Anna turned her attention to a career in nutrition and even authored a book on healthy eating.
However, this is where all the trouble began, as per author and TV presenter Sebastian Staszewski. In his Lewandowski biography, the Pole narrates that leading physiotherapist Bartłomiej Spałek recommends Anna as nutritionist for the Polish football team, to which the head coach agrees given Lewandowski’s burgeoning reputation at the time.
Unsurprisingly, senior members of the team such as Jakub Błaszczykowski, Łukasz Piszczek, and Kamil Glik stood saw the decision as a means of growing Lewandowski’s influence in the team. They not only declined Anna’s services, but Glik also openly expressed his frustration in public and mocked Anna’s instructions amongst players.
Eventually, the partnership quickly came to a dissolution following the 2016 Euros.
Lewandowska then shifted focus to her own food brand and heading the Polish Special Olympiads organization, which provides support for the mentally disabled through sport. But she could not keep far from controversy.
In 2020, the Pole published a video of her dancing to Beyonce in a fat suit with the caption, “Too thin, too big – how do you like me now?” While the intended message was to celebrate all kinds of figures and body-positivity, Anna failed to realize the insensitive representation only hurts the issue further.
Anna came under heavy fire for trivializing obesity and mocking fat people.
A move to Barcelona brewed further trouble. The 37-year-old soon opened her own fitness studio, having already began to make regular appearances on television, and added a cosmetic brands to her list of growing ventures.
Anna eventually got deeply involved with the bachata dance and opened a studio for the same. Unfortunately, the Latin dance style is very intimate and sensual. When Anna shared her videos performing the bachata in her studio, people questioned her morality while raising questions on her marriage with her footballer husband.
Safe to say, Lewandowski is thus not new to such online talk and criticism. He has enough experience at some of the biggest clubs to be affected by such controversies. Fire would hope for evidence of the same when the Polish number nine gears up for a club debut away at Inter Miami on July 22.
