Robert Lewandowski

Robert Lewandowski: The Polish forward Who made the German League his Own

Robert Lewandowski’s journey to the very top of the football world summit was a dream many years in the making and one that required great patience and the devotion of a life’s work to become a reality.

The last 10 years in world football have been characterized by two greats in Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Only 2 people have broken their duopoly, and only one of them is a forward like the two mentioned above. That man is Robert Lewandowski, who has been consistently performing beyond expectations for the past decade and is currently, the best footballer in Europe.

Already a legend in the Bundesliga (German League), Lewandowski currently plies his trade at Bayern Munich, a huge name in World football.

Today, let us take a peek into the career of Robert Lewandowski and how he, against all odds, finally lifted the trophy he wanted to win as a kid- The Champions League.

So, Where did it all Start for Lewandowski?

Robert Lewandowski was born on 21st August 1988 in Warsaw, Poland and the boy started playing football as a kid. This, however, was no surprise given the Pole’s family background. Lewandowski’s father, Krystof, was a Polish Judo champion while his mother, Iwona, was a former Volleyball player. Thus, Lewandowski was always given the freedom to make a career in football, courtesy of which, he joined local club Partyzant Leszno as an 8-year-old.

Following this, in 1997, Lewandowski joined MKS Varsovia Warsaw and played there as a teenager for 7 whole years and this is exactly where the Pole developed as a forward and strengthened his basics. It was now time to apply them at the right place.

Lewandowski moved from strength to strength as he went from third division side Legia II to second division side Znicz Pruszkow and then finally reached the top tier of Polish football with Lech Poznan. What was impressive was that Lewandowski was the top scorer in every division he featured in and a lot of people could now see the potential of the 19-year-old. Lewandowski was destined for success, but for that, the Pole had to move to a top European club where he could further hone his talent and his abilities in the hands of a good coach.

Path To Stardom

Germany, moreover, the Bundesliga, is one of the top leagues in the world to nurture and develop young talent. In 2010, there was a revolution that was taking place at one of Germany’s top clubs called Borussia Dortmund. Their manager at the time, Jurgen Klopp, who is known around the world today, was building something special with Dortmund after recruiting and developing excellent talents. While Klopp secured wonderful players from Dortmund’s youth academy, he lacked a potent forward who was young, hungry, and had a desire to score goals. Lewandowski fit the bill and Klopp was really interested in the Polish forward.

Thus, in June 2010, Borussia Dortmund signed Robert Lewandowski for €4.28 million, with an ambition to move forward and win things. In his first season at the club, Lewandowski normally featured off the bench as he was adjusting and settling down in a new country and a new league. But Lewandowski’s moment was bound to come soon.

At the start of the 2011-12 season, Lewandowski came on for Lucas Barrios, who suffered an injury during the game and was the club’s starting forward at the time. Lewandowski took this opportunity with both hands and capitalized when it mattered most. Jurgen Klopp’s system of “gegenpressing” suited Lewandowski more than anybody else in the squad. The Pole’s positioning and finishing were his prime qualities and he jumped upon any opportunity that was thrown his way out of relentless pressing by the Dortmund team. Lewandowski knew that this was his moment to shine and before he knew it, he was putting the goals into the back of the net on a regular basis.

The 2011-12 season was an eventful one for Borussia Dortmund, as they were aiming for the Bundesliga title that year. There was one man who made all the difference for Dortmund in that year and that was Robert Lewandowski. The striker had scored several crucial goals against the likes of Hamburg, Hoffenheim, and most importantly, against future employers and rivals, Bayern Munich. Dortmund eventually lifted the title that year, while they also won the German Cup by beating Bayern Munich 5-2, courtesy of a Lewandowski hat-trick. The Pole ended the season with 30 goals and 12 assists to his name.

In the next season, Dortmund may not have excelled quite so well in the League but the trio of Mario Götze, Robert Lewandowski and Marco Reus wreaked havoc in the Champions League, Europe’s premier competition. Borussia Dortmund drew against Real Madrid in the semi-final of the Champions League and the Spanish giants were heavy favourites to win the tie. However, Lewandowski had other ideas. A game most football fans will never forget is Dortmund’s 1st leg with Real Madrid as Lewandowski scored 4 magnificent goals to obliterate Madrid at the Signal Iduna Park (Dortmund’s stadium). Dortmund’s performance in the 1st leg was enough to secure a place in the Champions League final for Lewandowski and co.

Unfortunately, Dortmund lost the final to fellow rivals Bayern Munich, and Lewandowski, albeit scoring 36 goals that season, was left in a pool of tears.

As the 2013-14 season began, there was a lot of speculation regarding Lewandowski’s future at Borussia Dortmund. By now, Lewandowski was a star in German football but the striker wanted more. Thus, in January 2014, Lewandowski, in a heart-breaking move for Dortmund fans, agreed to join Bayern Munich at the start of the 2014-15 season. Lewandowski, in his final game at the club, vowed to never forget Dortmund’s contribution to his career, but it was time to go global for the Pole.

Global Superstar

At this point of time, if you wanted to win the prestigious Ballon d’Or, you needed to win the treble (domestic league & Cup and the Champions League) or score a ridiculous number of goals in a single season. Thus, when Lewandowski signed for Bayern in 2014, the aim was to win the Ballon d’Or and with Pep Guardiola managing Bayern at the time, anything felt possible for Lewandowski.

In his first season at Bayern Munich, Lewandowski netted 25 goals in all competitions and provided 15 assists, courtesy of which Bayern won the Bundesliga but failed to go beyond the semi-final stage of the Champions League. However, Lewandowski developed a whole new skillset under Guardiola in that season. The forward became a lot better at finding good positions in the box while he was also getting much more accurate with his long-range finishing. At Bayern, Guardiola had highly technical players like Douglas Costa, Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben who could create countless chances, and Lewandowski acted as the predatory striker in the box.

Lewandowski started the 2015-16 season in spectacular fashion when he came on against Wolfsburg at halftime, as Bayern were a goal down after 45 minutes. What the Pole did afterwards is something the Bundesliga will never forget, as Lewandowski went on to score 5 goals in 9 minutes, leaving Wolfsburg into a mix of tragedy and awe. Pep Guardiola could not believe his eyes at what he had just seen and Lewandowski received a standing ovation from the entire stadium when he scored the 5th goal. ‘ You just cannot do it; you just cannot be that good’ – were the words of the commentator of that game and nobody could believe what had just happened. Lewandowski was now one of the world’s most complete forwards and barring Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, Lewandowski would have a real shot at winning every trophy there was to win, individually and collectively.

The 2015-16 season was Guardiola’s last season at the helm and Lewandowski went ballistic with his goal-scoring numbers. The Pole scored 42 times for the German side and won the domestic double.

Now, to be considered among the greats, a player needed consistency, and for that one needed to remain fit at all times. Lewandowski, who hails from a family of sport-enthusiasts, including his wife, who is a Karate champion, has always preferred maintaining a strict diet and a healthy lifestyle. This kept Lewandowski fit season after season and he was scoring goal after goal to show that he is only going to get better with age.

When Carlo Ancelotti became the Bayern manager in 2016, Lewandowski was the Italian’s saviour on a lot of occasions as the forward would score goals in crucial moments and would be at full strength even when the team had a bad day. While Bayern did manage to secure the Bundesliga with Ancelotti at the helm, it was all down to Lewandowski who had yet another incredible goal-scoring season. But with Bayern not getting anywhere in the Champions League, Ancelotti was sacked at the start of the 2017-18 season, with Willy Sagnol and Jupp Heynckes joining Bayern one after the other as interim managers. While Lewandowski still played incredibly well, he was getting largely unsettled due to Bayern not making it to a Champions League final and the Pole was considering his options for the future.

However, Bayern persuaded Lewandowski to stay and the German side appointed Niko Kovac as Bayern manager, someone was the next big thing in terms of managerial preferences in Germany. Things, however, failed to change as Bayern, albeit winning the domestic double, were knocked out in the Round of 16 of the Champions League itself, something that last happened in the 2005/06 season. But what changed, was that the other big clubs in Europe had either lost their star players or had weakened in a particular area, prompting Lewandowski to sign a new contract with Bayern at the start of the 19/20 season, and boy, is he glad that he did so.

While the start of that season was chaotic with Niko Kovac being sacked in October, Hansi Flick joined as interim manager and what happened next was a freak of nature. Bayern kept winning game after game and Lewandowski had turned supernova. Lewandowski finally felt like he was playing in a side that was unstoppable and fearless and their chances in that season for the Champions League were looking really good.

While Bayern won their group, the round of 16 posed a youthful Chelsea side, but Bayern ripped them apart to threads with Lewandowski a huge presence in both legs of the tie. Yet, Bayern did something bigger to top that off. The German giants blew away Barcelona as Bayern scored 8 goals on the day humiliating Lionel Messi & co. The semi-final was no different as Bayern controlled the game against Lyon and won it comfortably to secure a place in the final, a first for Lewandowski in a Bayern Munich shirt.

Bayern faced PSG in the final and while Bayern did win the game by a margin of a single goal, Lewandowski was all over the pitch on the day and created all sorts of problems for the PSG defence with his movement on and off the ball. Lewandowski finally lifted the Champions League, a trophy he wanted to touch as a kid. Lewandowski ended the season with 55 goals and 10 assists to his name, a stat nobody could match that season.

However, with the Ballon d’Or being cancelled that year due to the restraints of a lot of players during the COVID-19 period, Lewandowski was deprived of that award. However, the Pole did win The Best FIFA Men’s Player award in 2020 while also winning the UEFA Player of the Year award.

Now, into the business end of the 2020/21 season, Lewandowski has scored a ridiculous 43 goals in the season and is recovering from an injury the Pole suffered in early April. On course to win the Bundesliga again, Lewandowski will surely come back stronger, faster and fitter next season to compete for the biggest trophies.

Poland National Team

Lewandowski has been named as Poland’s Footballer of the Year on 8 occasions in the last decade. However, this was a pipe dream when Lewandowski first featured for the national team in 2008. He became the 2nd youngest player (Aged 20) in Polish history to score for the national team on their debut, but this was just the start. In the last 13 years, Lewandowski has scored 66 goals for the national side becoming the highest goal scorer in the country’s history, a record he broke in 2017 when he scored a hat-trick against Romania.

Lewandowski also became captain of the national side as a 26-year-old as he led the Poland national team to the quarter-finals of the Euros in 2016, a feat never achieved by the country before that. With 118 caps for the national side, Lewandowski is currently, the highest capped player in the history of the country and he does not plan on stopping anytime soon. Now, with Poland’s eyes now firmly set on Euro 2022, they will be hoping Lewandowski to be firing on all cylinders for them, as he has done over his entire national career.

‘There was nothing the boy could not do’-were Lewandowski’s youth coach, Darius Wdowczyk’s wordsin a recent interview. Robert Lewandowski is a real-life example of how with perseverance, sacrifice, and hard work, you can win the biggest of trophies, no matter the number of hurdles in your way. ‘Lewangoalski’ as people refer to him in Germany will surely etch his name as a great, not just in Bayern’s history but in German football. A striker with abilities beyond belief, Lewandowski will continue to score goals while still at the top, and given his determination, he will certainly win the Ballon d’Or at least once before he retires and leaves the world of football with incredible memories.

Football is a team sport—the ultimate team sport, in fact—but its fantasy version celebrates only the individual. Fantasy football is fun. It’s amusing.

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