Will FC Barcelona manage to stop this formidable winning machine that is Bayern Munich since the round ball has resumed its rights after the confinement period? Indeed, since May 17 and the return of the Bundesliga, the Bavarian club has played 13 matches in all competitions for…. 13 wins. For 38 goals scored and only 10 conceded. The challenge that awaits this Friday evening at the Stade de la Luz le Barça (9 p.m., RMC Sport) therefore seems really dizzying. And to achieve this, the Catalans will already have to solve a huge problem: how to prevent Robert Lewandowski from shaking their nets?
“He's been the best center-forward in the world for years and this season may be the best of his career, which means a lot. He would have deserved the Ballon d'Or. "
Karl-Heinz RummeniggeSince the famous May 17, the Polish striker has indeed scored the trifle of 14 goals. Or more, in two months, than many attackers over the whole of a season. A level of performance such that some did not hesitate to make him the big favorite for the 2020 Ballon d'Or, which will not ultimately be awarded due to the health crisis . A real heartbreak for Bayern President Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, arguably his biggest fan. “He's been the best center-forward in the world for years and this season is perhaps the best of his career (34 Bundesliga goals, 53 in all competitions), which means a lot. He would have deserved the Ballon d'Or. " Lewandowski could however make up for it with the title of player of the year of Fifa. "If you ask me if I would like to be footballer of the year one day? Obviously, ”he had recently recognized. Just as he would welcome with a huge smile the prospect of achieving his first Bundesliga-German Cup-Champions League treble with Bayern (the club had achieved such a performance in 2013, a year before his arrival in Bavaria).
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The Champions League which is also the only trophy still missing from its formidable record. This competition seems to be refused to him with obstinacy, which confirms certain statistics. Everyone remembers his fabulous quadruple in the semi-final first leg against Real Madrid on April 24, 2013, a real birth certificate for the Pole internationally. But at the time, he still wore the Borussia Dortmund jersey. Since then he has never managed to do so well with Bayern. Worse, he has only scored 5 goals from the quarter-finals since he donned the Munich jersey in 2014. A surprising figure for the one who is the competition's fourth all-time top scorer with 66 goals ( behind the trio Cristiano Ronaldo-Lionel Messi-Raul). And before his two-part recital against Chelsea this year in the round of 16 - 3 goals and 4 assists between the first leg (0-3) and the return (4-1) - Lewandowski remained on seven consecutive matches of the final phase of C1 without scoring. Almost too big to be true.
Very close to Cristiano Ronaldo's record
This lack of character in knockout matches is arguably a big part of why Lewandowski suffers such a lack of recognition on the international stage compared to the Messi-Ronaldo tandem. Symbol of this lack of consideration, the Pole has never done better than 4th in the Ballon d'Or standings (in 2015) and he only finished three times in the Top 10 (in 2015 therefore, but also 8th in 2019 and 9th in 2017). Winning the Champions League would undoubtedly change the perception some have of his level of performance, he who has just finished top scorer in the group stage twice in a row. With 13 goals scored this season in European competition, he is only four goals off Ronaldo's record in a single edition. But the Bayern striker only wants to focus on his dream of lifting the big-eared cup: “For any player it's a big goal, he recalled before flying to Lisbon. To start with, we'll have to beat Barcelona, we don't have to think about what will happen next. ” And to beat the Blaugrana, there is no doubt that Bayern will need Lewandowski finally at his best in knockout matches.
Lewandowski or Messi this season? pic.twitter.com/D7qTKgWyud
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