WARSAW: Robert Lewandowski will no longer play for Poland while Micha艂 Probierz remains head coach, the Barcelona striker said.
The 36-year-old Lewandowski, 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鈥檚 2-0 friendly win over Moldova and Tuesday鈥檚 World Cup qualifier against Finland.
Probierz subsequently named Inter Milan midfielder Piotr Zieli艅ski as the new captain.
The Polish football association said: 鈥淧iotr Zieli艅ski has been named the new captain of the national team by head coach Micha艂 Probierz. The coach personally informed Robert Lewandowski, the entire team and the coaching staff of his decision.鈥�
Lewandowski replied with a post on X: 鈥淭aking 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.鈥�
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.