“I see my record of 41 goals in 29 games… Wow!”
Even Robert Lewandowski finds it hard to comprehend his staggering goal-scoring numbers.
The legendary striker is speaking to Sky Sports from his home in Barcelona, where he is gearing up for a run-in which could see him add even more major honours to his CV.
But, as well as chasing a LaLiga and Champions League double with Barcelona, Lewandowski, now 37, has also been keeping an eye on Harry Kane at his former club Bayern Munich.
The England captain is threatening Lewandowski’s record for most goals in a 34-game Bundesliga season – although even with 30 in 24, Kane still has some way to go in the final 10 games of his league season to match Lewandowski’s incredible 2020/21 haul.
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Harry Kane scored his 500th career goal in style with his second for Bayern Munich against Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga.
“Harry Kane is scoring always so many goals and he’s playing really good and he’s doing a great job,” says an impressed Lewandowski. “And then I saw I did this in 29 games… if I played 34 games, I can only imagine I could even score more!”
Lewandowski lets out a loud laugh. “Because of him, I can be more proud of my record now!”
It isn’t a surprise that a player who has scored over 700 times in his career for club and country speaks so proudly of his statistics.
But in a wide-ranging conversation, exploring the secrets of what it takes to be a star striker, it’s clear Lewandowski thinks about more than just goals.
“So many people were thinking that I am so focused on scoring goals that I don’t care about tactics,” he says, while calling on his experience in the game to have his say on…
- Why the traditional No 9 is a dying breed – and the key to his longevity
- How Pep Guardiola changed the way he understands football
- What is next for him with his Barca deal set to expire this summer
- And the key to unlocking the potential of his ping-pong rival Marcus Rashford
‘It’s like copy and paste; like a factory’
Lewandowski is into the 22nd season of his career. He has seen trends come and go, with the physical, direct approach in England’s top flight taking hold this term.
But he has more recently noticed a deeper shift. A move away from individuality and impulsivity. No more mavericks.
“Of course, you have some unique players or different players,” he says. “But it’s less than before for sure. From academies you have so many similar players.
“The way they want to learn, how to play football is like copy and paste. Like the factory.”
Robert Lewandowski celebrates with his team-mate Fermin Lopez
Lewandowski says “the world is changing” and points to the different pressures on young players today and the restrictions they have around their lifestyles.
This, though, is not the environment to create elite-level strikers, he explains.
“The striker is a different position. You cannot learn to be a great striker from the academy.
“You have to be different. You have to be thinking different. I see that every year less and less.
“It’s not only the skills. The mentality is the most important to thinking different to your team. You cannot do the same as all the team. You cannot stay in the position that the team or someone expects.
“No, the striker has to know where you should go, where the ball is coming because only you on the pitch knows. You have this kind of feeling.
“I remember a conversation with Pep Guardiola many years ago. We were talking about the tactics. And he told me that he can help deliver the ball to the box, ‘but never listen to any coach who tries to tell you that you should go first post or second post’.
“He said, ‘what I saw, you know exactly where you should go’. I have this kind of instinct, this kind of feeling inside that I know exactly.
“I need to have the freedom. If I have the freedom, I can deliver the best performance.”
Robert Lewandowski says Pep Guardiola changed the way he saw the game
Lewandowski joined Guardiola at Bayern Munich in the summer of 2014. In the next two seasons under the Spaniard, he scored 67 goals in 100 games. It was a transformative time for the striker, which changed the way he viewed the game.
“With Pep, I started to understand football from a different way,” says Lewandowski. “Not the way as a footballer, more a little bit like as a coach.
“So many people were thinking that I am so focused on scoring goals that I don’t care about tactics. But it’s not true.
“In the end, I know that if the team plays better, if we’re playing as a team tactically better, it’s easier to score the goal. It’s normal.”
Another criticism Lewandowski rejects is that his age is now impacting his physicality.
“‘He’s old so he cannot run’,” says Lewandowski, quoting a typical critic. “And I check my numbers and how I compare with the different strikers and offensive players – and I was [among the top] players who were doing the press during the games.
“Sometimes what’s going around is funny because it doesn’t make sense. But for someone it’s easier to find the excuse, you know, to write something about someone.”
Lewandowski’s next move
Lewandowski admits he doesn’t yet know where he’ll be playing next season. His contract expires this summer and with his game time reduced this term, there is speculation about what he does next. But he is not rushing into a decision.
“What is good is that I don’t have pressure,” he says. “At 30 or a few years [younger], this kind of feeling is going to be different. ‘I want to see where I’m going to play’. But in this moment, I don’t have to know. I have patience.
“I’ll give myself around three months to decide what I want to do. Me, just me.”
He is settled in Barcelona where he and his family “have everything we need”.
A Premier League move looks like it was not meant to be. There was that famous story of the volcano scuppering a possible deal with Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn, while he was also close to joining Sir Alex Ferguson’s Man Utd. “But at that time, when I was at Dortmund, they wouldn’t let me go. So, it’s like someone decided maybe that you should play there, not there… and in the end, OK, I’m very happy with my career!”
‘Rashford has everything – believe in him’
Marcus Rashford and Robert Lewandowski
If he had made that move to United, his path may have crossed with Marcus Rashford sooner.
Interestingly, Lewandowski now sits alongside Rashford in the Barcelona dressing room.
Lewandowski has spoken about how he rails against misjudged perceptions of himself as a selfish goal-getter. So was he surprised by the quality and character of Rashford, who arrived on loan from Old Trafford at the start of this season after months of negative headlines?
“After a few training sessions, no. He has huge potential,” says Lewandowski. “He has everything. He has speed, he has technique, he has a shot, he has left foot, right foot, skills…
“But Marcus is the guy, if you give him confidence and he sees that you believe in him, he can give you back 200 per cent.
“He’s a very nice guy. We spoke because we are sitting in the dressing room beside [each other]. We also play ping-pong. I see that this guy is very kind, very nice guy but also because of this he needs someone standing behind him.
“If he does have this confidence he can really play his best football and on the best level.”
The crucial follow-up question: who wins their ping-pong matches? “He improved but he couldn’t win any games against me! He has to change his opponent!”
Lewandowski laughs loudly again at his own competitiveness.
It is that will to win, combined with the know-how of a 12-time league winner across his spells in Germany and Spain, which makes him a key factor in the finale to Barcelona’s season. A fractured eye socket suffered against Villarreal won’t sideline him for long.
“The season is starting again,” says Lewandowski. “We have to be ready for the most important time in this part of the season.”
What makes the difference in these moments?
“You always have to be ready. Always you have to think, what can I do better, what can I do more? You have to think 24 hours per day about your football. You need always this feeling that you’re hungry for more.”
Lewandowski’s hunger to score, to win, remains insatiable.
Robert Lewandowski stars in the latest Protect Your Craft campaign by Mackage, the global luxury lifestyle brand, which celebrates individuals whose mastery, discipline and creative vision elevate their craft to the level of art.
