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Robert Lewandowski: "The clubs pay for a future that we do not know"

2021-09-27T13:24:21.814Z


The Bayern forward, the top scorer of the last three years in Europe, Golden Boot and Ballon d'Or candidate, reflects on the job of 'nine' in the era of the 'false nine'


The manual of the contemporary center forward reserves an essential chapter for Robert Lewandowski (Warsaw, 1988), the man who has scored the most goals in the world in the last three years, winner of the Golden Boot thanks to 41 goals in 29 games in the last Bundesliga, award for the best FIFA player in 2020 and aspiring to collect before Christmas the Ballon d'Or that they did not give him because of the pandemic.

"In football there is a lot of politics but I hope that now everything goes well," he says, serious as a chess master, white shirt and restless eyes, Zoom by means of.

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Question.

You are the first Pole to win the Golden Shoe and the first to win it playing in the Bundesliga since Gerd Müller.

How do you explain this achievement despite the fact that last season you had less than 3.5 shots per goal, fewer chances to shoot than ever in the 12 seasons you have been in the Bundesliga?

Answer.

Before the 2019-20 season, when I scored 34 goals, I thought that to win the Golden Boot in the Bundesliga, where the season has only 34 days, it had to be more effective because to be among the top scorers in Europe you have to pass of 30 goals. I thought that I had to raise my ratio of goals per game beyond the average because I could not always play either. Having scored 41 goals in 29 games, for me, for the history of the Bundesliga and football means a lot. I'm there with more than 40 goals in the era of Cristiano and Messi! If he had played in a 38-game league, he would still beat me.

P.

Bayern's greatest quality is solidarity.

Players are not limited to working in their zone but also working in the zone of the partner.

How does a tip adapt to this philosophy?

R.

I always wanted to be a player capable of doing everything.

Defend, play with the left, with the right, with the head, keep the ball, run into spaces ... It is important to be flexible to adapt to all tactics and systems.

Being involved in every circumstance of the game is good for my body and my head.

Everything I do I do to extend my career.

I love this job and will do what I can to stay at the top level more than a normal player

Q.

What is the first rule a

nine

must follow

?

R.

We forwards spend 70% of the time with the goal behind us.

The 30% that we spend facing the goal is easier.

That is why it is important for me to feel mentally and physically stronger than my opponent and to perfect all those techniques that help me gain more space in my fight with defenders, and thus better enjoy that 30% of the game in front of goal.

I work on these things.

Everything I do I do to extend my career.

I love this job and will do what I can to stay at the top level more than a normal player.

I know that time is not unlimited.

But my 33 years are just a number.

Q.

Most of Bayern's situations derive from lateral crosses and set pieces.

Is it more comfortable for you to attack a cross than an inside pass?

R.

For a forward the easy thing is to counterattack.

With spaces, physical strength is more decisive.

But if you play for a great team like Bayern you have to have the ball and that makes you spend most of the game playing against an opponent who defends themselves and forces you to play with your back to the goal.

This is the most difficult thing for a striker, to find the solution, to find the space to receive the ball with the opposing defense locked in.

It does not matter if the ball comes from a corner or a play center.

You must take advantage of every loophole.

Q.

Many strong forwards, like Cavani, are skilled at finding spaces because they shy away from physical contact with the defender.

Do you prefer to feel the body of your defense?

A.

I know how to run into space.

But sometimes, if I come into contact with the opponent's body, I feel safer because I better perceive the play, the ball, the distances.

The touch makes me feel stronger and wakes me up.

I feel better about the situation, I see better what will happen, I detect if the defender is going to take a wrong step and I anticipate.

There are games in which you notice that the center-back looks for you to hit you once, twice, three times, and you let him take the mark and he thinks he has a reference, but on the fourth, instead of hitting you, you go to his back and cheat on him. .

I try to use the reactions of the defenders to my advantage.

If I come into contact with the opponent's body, I feel safer because I better perceive the play, the ball, the distances.

The touch makes me feel stronger and wakes me up

P.

Many forwards prefer to receive the ball on the foot;

they don't like to run into space.

To what extent is it important to move continuously without the ball?

R.

The game of the tip is a game of patience.

When the opponent's defense is in their area and you have no space, you cannot expect to receive the ball at the foot continuously.

What you have to do is look for free space and that is achieved without the ball.

You spend your time looking for a solution to dismantle the rival defensive system and this, to a large extent, has to do with the movements you make in your zone of

nine

.

If you go out of your zone and continually go down to the middle to get the ball at your foot, you do not help to open the defense.

It's a tough job, but it's what the center forward has to do.

Q.

When you played for Klopp's Dortmund, behind your back you had Reus and Götze, two great passers. At Bayern you don't have the same level of passers but the attack is like an avalanche of people moving towards the opposite area with Coman, Davies, Göretzka, Müller, Sané ... What difference is there for you between an attack pattern and the other?

R.

The important thing is not the style with which each of your teammates play but how you can use it to your advantage and theirs.

Perhaps at Bayern, Müller is the only one trying to filter unpredictable passes between the lines.

For me, it is not a problem not to have a great passer behind whose function is to enable me.

If you know what your teammates will do a moment before they do it, you can take advantage of their strengths to create situations.

Sometimes the best way to win is to get your teammates to do their best.

When the opponent's defense is in their area and you have no space, you cannot expect to receive the ball at the foot continuously.

What you have to do is look for free space and that is achieved without the ball and without leaving the

nine

zone

Q.

You have played with Klopp, Guardiola and Flick, three of the most innovative coaches of the century.

What did they expect from a

nine

like you?

R.

With Klopp I learned how to press and steal to get in front of the goal at full speed.

With Guardiola I learned a lot about tactics, it changed my vision of football 100%.

Ancelotti gave me confidence.

Flick was an expert in simplifying the instructions so that everyone would know effortlessly what their behavior should be.

His timing was perfect for creating great competitive atmospheres.

P.

In this high pressure football many big

nines

have drowned out of spaces.

How do you survive in the era of

false nine

?

A.

Football has changed and continues to change. The question I have asked myself is: "Should I do what I want or what I think is best to solve the problem?" I know it's hard. But I don't want to fall asleep and wake up in three years to admit that soccer went ahead and I stayed behind. I'd rather go two steps forward doing what I must than two steps behind doing what could give me pleasure. Let's forget the system and the model. We have to be ready. Now we play so many games that for me, part of the game is played before the game. Avoiding distractions and trying to stay cool. If you are tired it is difficult to focus on the goal. You can always run, defend and pass the ball. But if you are tired your concentration fades a bit.

Soccer has changed and continues to change.

The question I have asked myself is: "Should I do what I want or what I think is best to solve the problem?"

I don't want to fall asleep and wake up in three years to recognize that football went on and I stayed behind

Q.

You said that in the field you already know what your teammates will do.

Do you think about the play before the ball reaches you?

R.

If you are able to see what is happening on the field, not only what is under your nose but also what is in your back and 40 meters ahead, in football everything is easier.

This vision is the key to football, not just to scorers.

P.

Is playing one touch essential in your trade?

A.

When you don't have space or time, playing one touch is what you have to do 100% of the time.

In shooting, the first control is the most important because it can save you the second and third.

If you need to do three touches, it is too late.

In today's football, where everyone runs and everyone fights, only the details help you to be faster and score more goals.

We play one touch because it is easier to play that way, and in soccer to play easy is to play fast.

But playing easy is not easy!

Q.

If you had to choose the action with the highest goal value, would you favor control, the decision before receiving the ball, the unmarking, the shot ...?

A.

Always control.

There is 70% of the goal.

Of course, if you want to finish off with a touch the movement is the most important thing.

But if you don't have the chance to shoot one shot, poor control equates to losing the goal.

Q.

How did you know that you would be a soccer player?

R.

Because he did judo, volleyball, basketball, gymnastics, but if he had the ball at his feet he was the happiest child in the world.

In today's football, where everyone runs and everyone fights, we play one touch because that way it is easier to play, and in football to play easy is to play fast.

But playing easy is not easy!

P.

Many children dream of becoming footballers because they love passing, dribbling,

freestyle

, or the poetry of a play. Others dream of a goal for a goal. Cristiano, Ibrahimovic, or even Mbappé, dreamed of making art before goals. Then many became compulsive scorers like Cristiano or Messi ...

R.

The expectations are so high that if you score one less goal than other scorers many say you are not that good.

That's why so many scorers leave poetry aside.

Because in this industry there are more and more people who do not watch the games, or analyze what happens because in modern times there is less and less patience to carefully watch the 90 minutes of the games, and they only see the statistics and the 'big data' .

If they see you dial they say: "ok, I was there."

And if you don't score, even if you've been brilliant, they judge that you've done it wrong.

Even journalists judge matches through

highlights

!

This world has changed the behavior of players on the field.

Q.

And when you were a child, did you want to be a footballer because of art or because of goals?

R.

Uff… For the goal.

Let's say 70% goal and 30% art.

Sometimes what they call art are surprising filigrees for fans or for people who are not really interested in football, and who see something very special in it, but it is not as difficult as it seems.

Sometimes the easiest thing is to do more than you have to.

Q.

Do you like to go to the gym to lift weights?

A.

Right now the gym helps me exercise to prolong my run, but not to gain more muscle strength.

I'm not a type of forward who relies on power.

I prefer elasticity.

The market values ​​youth.

When you are 20 years old and the current favors you because you are talented and good, everything is going well and it seems very simple, but you still don't know what disappointments are.

Will you be ready to fight when you are famous and have money and problems arise or will you be so comfortable that your mental aggressiveness will be reduced by 10%?

Q.

If you were the president of a limited-budget club and Messi, Mbappé, Cristiano Haaland were all 20 years old, which one would you sign?

R.

At four! But beware that being 20 years old is difficult. A part of the player's life begins at age 20. But there is a second part. Cristiano is at the top with 36. Many people value players for their youth. But in this football, in this world, with this pressure, with these expectations, how do you know how your body and mind will react after three years of high competition? It is the greatest challenge of a footballer. When you start and the current favors you because you are talented and you are good and young, everything is going well and it seems very simple, but you still do not know what disappointments are. Will you be ready to fight when problems arise or will you feel so comfortable that your mental aggressiveness will be reduced by 10%? Many times, the most human thing is to lose hunger if you are already satiated.When we think of football we tend to simplify things. Fame, social impact, money, make the future of young people very difficult to predict. Many clubs are paying for a future that we do not know. Where you see a perfect player there is no machine, there is an unpredictable human being. The market is crazy.

Q.

And how were you able to have the same hunger with 33 as with 20?

R.

Because I remember exactly the time when I was 18, 20, 21 ... and I was fighting to be professional at Znicz and Lech. I carry in my mind the memory of things that were not perfect when the road was not easy and my desire was great. If that memory of difficulties disappears from my mind I would have no chance of staying on top. If I just consider how good I am and the goals I have scored, and I play four bad games, I would say: “Bah! I'm fine!". The exact memory of the problems strengthens me. What does it matter that he scored 41 goals last season? In football it doesn't matter how many goals you scored in the last game. Soccer changes 180 degrees in one day. When I was very young and did not know about problems, I did not have this mentality.

Q.

How did you feel on the pitch against Barça two weeks ago, compared to other games you played against them?

A.

The week before we traveled a lot.

I came back from the national team on Thursday, on Friday we went to Leipzig, on Saturday we returned to Munich and on Monday we flew to Barcelona.

We were a bit tired.

We did not have full confidence.

They still have good players.

The Camp Nou has that magic.

But we are Bayern and we remembered very well the last game we played in Lisbon.

We thought that if we concentrated on our game we would have a lot of cattle.

We had the game under control from the first minute.

But I didn't feel like they were a decadent team or anything like that.

I just felt that we were better.

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Source: elparis

All sports articles on 2021-09-27

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