Every club wants a 20-goals-a-season striker but not many get one who has that many before it is even Halloween.
Bayern Munich have.
Robert Lewandowski scored twice as the Bundesliga giants beat Olympiakos 3-2 in the Champions League on Tuesday, taking the Poland international’s tally for club and country in 2019-20 to an incredible 21 goals in just 17 games.
The 31-year-old’s scintillating form has prompted many on social media to ask the question: is he the best number nine in the world right now?
Lewandowski >>>>> Messi and Ronaldo?
It is hard to argue with the statistics, certainly in 2019 anyway.
This year, no other player has scored more goals for their club than Lewandowski. Not Cristiano Ronaldo. Not Lionel Messi.
|
Goals in top five leagues in 2019 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Rank |
Player | Games | Goals |
|
1 |
Robert Lewandowski | 36 | 36 |
|
2 |
Lionel Messi | 36 | 32 |
|
3 |
Kylian Mbappe | 32 | 29 |
|
4 |
Sergio Aguero | 35 | 29 |
|
5 |
Raheem Sterling | 39 | 27 |
|
17 |
Cristiano Ronaldo | 29 | 18 |
This season he has been phenomenal, particularly at club level.
He has scored 18 goals in his 13 appearances in all competitions, at least six more than any other player in the big-five European leagues and has scored in each of Bayern’s last 12 games.
In fact he has only failed to score in one game for Bayern this term – the 2-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the German Super Cup back on 3 August.
Lewandowski has also hit two hat-tricks this season – one for Bayern and one for Poland.
|
Goals in top five leagues in 2019-20 season |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Player |
Games in all competitions | Goals |
| Robert Lewandowski | 13 | 18 |
|
Raheem Sterling |
13 | 12 |
|
Andrea Belotti |
14 | 11 |
|
Ciro Immobile |
9 | 10 |
|
Sergio Aguero |
10 | 10 |
In good company
Lewandowski’s two goals in the Champions League on Tuesday moved him above Ruud van Nistelrooy in Champions League top scorer charts.
But he still has some way to go to match Messi and Ronaldo’s exploits in the competition.
|
Champions League top scorers |
|
|---|---|
|
Player |
Goals |
|
Cristiano Ronaldo |
127 |
|
Lionel Messi |
112 |
| Raul | 71 |
|
Karim Benzema |
60 |
|
Robert Lewandowski |
57 |
At 31, Lewandowski is probably unlikely to catch either Messi or Ronaldo but his goalscoring statistics, particularly at an age when some players are past their best, are hugely impressive.
But Lewandowski’s career could have taken a very different trajectory if not for a volcano preventing him from joining Blackburn from Polish side Lech Poznanback in April 2010.
The eruption of an Icelandic volcano nine years ago and the ash cloud that it created resulted in his flight to England’s north-west being cancelled.
“I couldn’t go because of the cloud. It was the volcano. The volcano with the ash cloud,” Lewandowski, who eventually signed for Borussia Dortmund in June 2010, told the Times.
“It was one week and nobody could fly in Europe. The flight was booked, but we couldn’t leave. It changed my life. If I had gone to Blackburn maybe I would have stayed there.”
