If there’s one word to define Robert Lewandowski, it’s longevity.
After leading Znicz Pruszków to promotion with a league-high 15 goals, Lewandowski finished atop their scoring charts of the Polish second tier before earning a move to Lech Poznań, where he emerged as the top scorer in the Ekstraklasa and won all three domestic trophies on display. These stellar displays attracted the attention of Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund, who signed him in 2010 for a reported €4.5 million. It would prove to be money well spent, with Lewandowski helping to end a nine-year title drought and guide BVB to back-to-back championships as well as a Champions League final.
Lewandowski scored 103 goals in 42 appearances for BVB before making the move to rivals Bayern Munich, where he scored 344 goals and 73 assists in 375 appearances and added eight more Bundesliga titles as well as a maiden Champions League title to his resume. He finished as the top scorer in Europe for the first and second time in his career in 2021 and 2022, as well as the top scorer in Germany for the sixth and seventh time, before deciding to make the move to Spain and join Barcelona on a four-year contract for a fee of €45 million, potentially rising to €50 million with add-ons.
Expectations were sky-high for the Polish talisman, who more than delivered with 33 goals and 8 assists in 46 appearances to guide Barcelona to their first league title in four years. His numbers dipped to 26 goals and 9 assists in 49 appearances, but just when it seemed that he might be headed for the exit door, Lewandowski responded with a massive 2024/25 season that saw him not only score 42 goals and 3 assists in 52 appearances, but shatter a number of different records. Lewandowski overtook Gerd Müller as the third-highest scorer in the history of Europe’s top leagues before surpassing Lionel Messi as the first player to score 20+ goals in 14 straight seasons, and leapfrogging Cristiano Ronaldo as the player with the most goals past the age of 35 in the Champions League. He also equalled Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar as the only players to score 100+ goals with three different clubs in the 21st century, as well as the only players to reach 100+ goals in the Champions League alongside Ronaldo and Messi.
Lewandowski hasn’t just delivered an outstanding legacy at club level, but also on the international scene. Since making his international debut in 2008, Lewandowski has played in four European Championships and two World Cups, and he is currently the team’s captain, all-time leading scorer and all-time appearance maker. With a barely believable 87 goals and 37 assists in 162 appearances, Polish strikers like Arkadiusz Milik, Adam Buksa, Krzysztof Piątek and Karol Świderski are well aware that the best they can aspire to is being the backup center
forward.
“Even though Lewandowski isn’t the youngest player anymore, he still performs at a very good level,” stated Buksa in an R.Org Sports interview. “You have to have certain abilities to be a killer, be that talent, work ethic, intelligence, and skill, and he has it all. There are very few strikers in the world who are as deadly as him…that’s simply his nature. It’s great to see him play or to play alongside him….he’s been great, and the national team needs him.”
At 37 years of age, Robert Lewandowski has done just about everything there is to do in world football. But until a few months ago, one thing that he had never quite grown accustomed to was coming off the bench. That’s changed this season under Hansi Flick, with Lewandowski missing the season opener due to injury before coming off the bench in the next three matches. After scoring a brace vs. Valencia, Lewandowski was rewarded with starts vs. Newcastle and Getafe, before dropping to the bench vs. Real Oviedo. It would take him just five minutes to score the vital go-ahead goal to lead Barcelona to a come-from-behind victory, before repeating
his heroics in the following match and scoring the second goal in a comeback 2-1 win vs. Real Sociedad. Lewandowski would enjoy a brief cameo in their 2-1 defeat to PSG before playing the full 90 in a 4-1 defeat at Sevilla, only to miss their next three matches due to a torn muscle fiber.
Lewandowski may no longer be the spring chicken that he once was, but he’s nevertheless a player who, despite his recent niggling fitness concerns, is still capable of staying fit for the majority of the campaign and delivering in the biggest moments. This is not a different player from the one who scored 11 goals in 13 Champions League appearances last season and led them to the verge of their first final in a decade. He’s still the same world-class finisher with a penchant for impressive hold-up play and slick passing combinations, as evidenced in Poland’s
recent 1-1 draw vs. the Netherlands where he assisted the opening goal, as well as Barcelona’s most recent match.
After coming off the bench vs. Elche and Club Brugge, Lewandowski returned to the starting line-up and bagged a hat-trick in a 4-2 win at Celta de Vigo, helping Barcelona put an end to a three-match winless streak on the road and earning the praise of a number of leading football commentators like Sid Lowe, Leonardo Bertozzi and Gary Lineker. It marked his 617th goal in 835 professional club appearances, and it left many Barcelona fans wondering – just why isn’t Lewandowski a regular in attack anymore?
It’s evident that Barcelona are planning to move on from Lewandowski, whose contract expires next summer. Similarly to PSG with Kylian Mbappé in 2023/24, they are looking to prepare for the next chapter and build for long-term success. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Barcelona need to phase out Lewandowski.
In contrast to Ferran Torres, who has still not proven himself as a world-class forward and whose efficiency came under heavy scrutiny in the recent defeat to Real Madrid, Lewandowski is a once-in-a-generation goal scorer who thrives at making incisive runs into the box and weighing up his shots with the perfect amount of power and accuracy. It’s why, despite playing limited minutes this season, Lewandowski leads all Barcelona players with 7 league goals – only Mbappé (13) has scored more in LaLiga.
Whilst Lewandowski may no longer be Barcelona’s long-term #9, Torres hasn’t done enough to suggest that he is their long-term #9 either. It’s why, as Barcelona prepare for a busy holiday season that will see them face off against Athletic Club, Chelsea and Atlético Madrid, Flick should have no hesitations about reintroducing Lewandowski into the line-up and giving him a chance to get his body up to speed again. Even with Raphinha still currently out, Barcelona still have more than enough creativity with the likes of Lamine Yamal, Fermín López, Dani Olmo and Marcus Rashford in tow, but what they don’t have is someone who’s going to be able to get on the end of these golden chances and put them in the back of the net.
The bottom line: Barcelona is one of the most demanding clubs in world football, and if they fail to defend their league title or win the Champions League title, then there will be serious questions regarding Flick’s future. Barcelona currently sit second in LaLiga, three points behind Real Madrid, whilst they find themselves in 11th in the Champions League with seven points from four matches. Right now, Robert Lewandowski gives them the best chance of winning both competitions, and as long as he’s on Barcelona’s payroll, that will always be the case.
