Written By: Robin Van Paassen
Edited By: Irtaza Khan
At 32 years old, Robert Lewandowski is playing the most exhilarating football of his life. Spearheading Bayern Munich through the 2019-2020 season, Lewandowski has set sights on new goals for this campaign, and quite literally so. Lewandowski massively contributed to Bayern Munich's record-tying six titles of winning the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, German Super Cup, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and the Club World Cup all in one campaign, only done by Barcelona in the La Liga prior. Despite earning almost every single significant award in football, there are two that Lewandowski still seeks for his trophy cabinet. The World Cup and the Ballon d'Or. While Lewandowski may not be capable of guiding his nation's team to World Cup glory, a Ballon d'Or is not out of the picture. In fact, many will say it was stolen straight from the picture frame in the last calendar campaign. France Football cancelled the Ballon d'Or due to the global pandemic. A delayed season and a complete halt for several domestic leagues ultimately ended Lewandowski's best chance to be crowned the prestigious accolade. Misfortune may be where others fail to persevere further, but not for Lewandowski. The marksman is on his way to breaking another long-standing record as well.
Lewandowski imported his lethal goal-scoring abilities into yet another season, currently leading among all goal scorers of Europe's top five leagues. With an explosive start to the season through an 8-0 thrashing of the financially distressed FC Schalke 04 on their opening game, Bayern looked to be steamrolling yet another smooth campaign. However, effortlessly running over competition would be an overstatement by far. Following the incredible performance, Lewandowski and company had their hot streak collapse. An unprecedented winning streak of 23 games in all competitions stretching from the previous season was put to bed by TSG Hoffenheim. It has been far from rosy at the Allianz Arena. Suffering further tough defeats against Borussia Mönchengladbach and Eintracht Frankfurt alongside four draws, they sit only two points above RB Leipzig in first. With an unreliable defense conceding 34 goals in just 24 matches this campaign, one might ask, who is predominantly contributing to Bayern's 71 goals to fend off competition at the top of the table?
The only answer is Lewandowski. A man on a mission to claim the Ballon d'Or as the world's best player, finally dethroning Ronaldo and Messi as the serial strikers to win it in the past decade. Besides being the goal machine he is, Lewandowski has been Bayern's savior on multiple occasions this season. In a seesaw match against Hertha BSC, Lewandowski scored all four goals to escape Hertha BSC's three-goal claw-back in the second half. Proving to be a big game player against rivals Borussia Dortmund, Lewandowski scored once and also set up the winning goal. On several occasions, such as against Union Berlin, VfL Wolfsburg, Bayer Leverkusen, FC Augsburg, and Eintracht Frankfurt, Lewandowski has been the sole goal scorer for the European giants.
A monstrous performance in this past Saturday's Der Klassiker against Borussia Dortmund saw Lewandowski edging closer to breaking an almost 50-year-old record. A phenomenal brace from Erling Håland in the first 10 minutes of play was only to be canceled out by a goal from Leon Goretzka, and an exceptional hattrick by the one and only Lewandowski in the remaining time of the 90 minutes. The goal bagging machine sits at an astonishing 31 goals, only 24 matchdays deep. Not far off of unsurpassed tally - 40 goals.
40 is the record number of goals in a single Bundesliga campaign. Held by Gerd Müller since the 1971-1972 campaign, the ex-Bayern star striker's record has lasted more than four decades. Seemingly, Lewandowski has the first deliberate chance of surpassing the feat.
In Müller's illustrious career with Bayern, he managed to score a Messi-esque 564 goals in 605 games, winning everything from the Ballon d'Or to the World Cup and in-between. Müller's record-setting campaign saw him play all 90 minutes of 34 Bundesliga games to score 40 goals, by matchday 24 having netted 26 goals on his journey. In comparison, at the end of matchday 24, Lewandowski sits at an unheard-of 31 goals! Playing fewer minutes and succumbing to injury for one game, in comparison, is quite remarkable.
Playing 1954 out of 2160 minutes this far, leading to a goal every 63 minutes, Lewandowski is certainly displaying why he was named FIFA's best player of the year and showing how valuable he is for Bayern. Lewandowski is scoring an insane 1.48 goals per game, and in the 99th percentile for non-penalty goals per 90 of approximately 0.96. A ridiculous 3.88 shots in the final third per 90 places him in the 96th percentile against all other forwards in the last year. Contributing six assists in the league appears mere to his goal tally but remains credible contribution, nonetheless. The Polish striker is invincible at the moment. Assuming this momentum continues, Lewandowski will not only certainly break Müller's record but also capture the most prized Ballon d'Or.
References
- https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-fifa-best-winner-robert-lewandowksi-is-one-of-the-greatest-ever/a-55391027
- https://fbref.com/en/players/8d78e732/Robert-Lewandowski
- https://www.bundesliga.com/en/news/Bundesliga/aubameyang-lewandowski-no-remembering-gerd-m%C3%BCller-40-goal-season-463198.jsp
- https://www.transfermarkt.com/gerd-muller/leistungsdaten/spieler/35604/saison/1971/plus/1#gesamt
- https://footballwhispers.com/blog/world-cup-icons-gerd-muller/
- https://www.transfermarkt.us/robert-lewandowski/leistungsdaten/spieler/38253
- https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0265-11428149c0ab-efe184c3962a-1000--europe-s-2020-21-top-scorer/
- https://clutchpoints.com/bayern-munich-win-fifa-club-world-cup-become-second-team-ever-to-win-six-trophies-in-one-season/
Comments