"They took the captaincy away from me while I was putting my kids to bed"

Robert Lewandowski's relationship with Poland has blown up. The Barcelona striker has rebelled after Michal Probierz, Poland coach, has taken the captaincy of the national team away from him.

First it was a post on Instagram in which he assured that he would not play again with the current coach. Now, the Azulgrana striker responded to the words of Probierz himself, who assured that he removed him from the captaincy ‘for the good of the team’ and ‘after talking to many players and the coaching staff’.

"I got a surprise call from coach Michal Probierz to tell me that he was taking the armband off me. I was not prepared for it; I was putting my children to bed. The conversation didn't last a minute," Lewandowski said in an interview with WP Sportowe.

The striker criticised the manner: "I've had the armband for eleven years and 17 years with the national team. It seemed to me that these matters should be dealt with in a different way. Especially as the next training camp is a long way off. Besides, everything was communicated over the phone. It shouldn't be like that. The coach betrayed my trust.

"I have the impression that the coach gave in to media pressure, he broke our agreements. The decision not to go to this call-up was a mutual pact and has not been explained. After I didn't go, there was a lot of media noise and I understand that that's how things happened until we got here," he said.