The Poland striker is in his best form since moving to Catalunya ahead of Wednesday's Champions League clash with his former club
Robert Lewandowski has scored 12 times during the opening 10 rounds of La Liga's new season. The last player to achieve that feat? The GOAT, Lionel Messi, in 2019-20. Barcelona boss Hansi Flick has been full of praise for Lewandowski's stunning start to the season – but he's not been surprised by it.
"This is the Robert I know," the former Bayern Munich coach said. "I never knew another." It's a fair point, of course. Lewandowski broke the Bundesliga single-season goals record during his time playing under Flick at the Allianz Arena. So, he's well used to seeing the striker scoring freely.
But while Flick has never known another Lewandowski, Barca have. Last season, in fact, time appeared to be catching up with the veteran striker. Flick's appointment as manager, though, has resulted in the return of the real Robert Lewandowski…
Getty Images'In love'
Barca's decision to sign Lewandowski from Bayern in July 2022 raised plenty of eyebrows. There was no questioning the man's world-class quality, but the wisdom of investing €45 million (£37.5m/$49m) in a 34-year-old striker was understandably questioned by several pundits, given the Blaugrana were almost broke.
As then-Bayern boss Julian Nagelsmann sniped, "It's the only club in the world that can buy players without having any money. It's kind of weird and crazy."
However, Joan Laporta's lever-pulling paid off, with Lewandowski playing a pivotal role in Barca winning the Spanish title, with the centre-forward hitting 23 goals in 34 league games.
"His signing was fantastic," former Barca coach Xavi enthused. "He makes the team play. He reads space perfectly. I'm in love!" Unfortunately, the love affair didn't last long.
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Xavi was forced out of Barcelona at the end of last season by Laporta after initially being convinced by the club president to reverse his previous decision to resign. Flick was promptly confirmed as the Catalan's successor, but despite his employers hiring a coach with whom Lewandowski had played arguably the best football of his long and illustrious career, there was speculation that the Warsaw native might leave Barca during the summer.
It was claimed that Jose Mourinho wanted him at Fenerbahce, as well as reports that LA Galaxy were considering reuniting Lewandowski with his old Borussia Dortmund team-mate Marco Reus.
AFPLegs gone?!
On the face of it, such speculation didn't appear to make much sense. After all, Lewandowski had just finished as Barca's top scorer for the second successive season.
However, he'd only managed 19 league goals – a decent haul for an average striker, but worryingly poor for one of the greats of the modern game. Indeed, it was Lewandowski's lowest tally since his first season at Bayern, all the way back in 2014-15.
The idea of Barca removing Lewandowski and his sizable salary from their wage bill wasn't just related to his decreasing strike-rate, either. In fact, it was more down to the general lethargy and ineffectiveness of his all-round game.
He no longer looked mobile enough to lead the Barca attack. Truth be told, at times it looked as if his legs had gone. In that context, it was hardly a shock to see Laporta bring in Brazilian teenager Vitor Roque in January with a view to replacing Lewandowski sooner or later.
Getty Images Sport'All look better on the pitch'
However, Roque failed miserably to make an impact at Barca and has already been sent out on loan to Real Betis for the 2024-25 campaign. Lewandowski, by complete contrast, now looks reborn, and thus more than capable of being the Blaugrana's main man for at least another couple of seasons.
Flick's arrival has obviously helped enormously in that regard.
"We have such a good relationship that sometimes we don’t even have to talk much to each other and I’ll still know what to do and what the coach expects from me," Lewandowski explained to reporters. "I am getting more chances and more passes. But everyone on the pitch is playing at their best level. We all look better on the pitch."
He's got a point. One of Barca's biggest failings last season was their costly propensity for tiring in the final quarter of games. Consequently, Laporta wanted a "fitter and stronger" side, so he turned to Flick, whose treble-winning Bayern team were renowned for their work-rate and high press.
Significantly, Pedri is among those to have attributed Barca's impressive start to the season to the fact that they "work much harder than before". "The new fitness coaches that have come in are really good for us," the midfielder admitted. "You notice it in the games. The team doesn't dip after the 70th or 80th minute, it maintains the same fitness levels."
