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Lewandowski averaging a goal a game at 36 years of age

football26 September 2024 09:40| © SuperSport
By:Joe Maluleke
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With his goal against Getafe CF, Robert Lewandowski became Poland’s all-time top scorer in La Liga EA Sports, surpassing Jan Urban.

FC Barcelona remain perfect in La LIga, with seven wins from seven, and their latest three-point haul is thanks to Lewandowski, who scored the only goal of the game as Los Azulgranas defeated Getafe CF 1-0 on Wednesday night.

It was a special goal for the striker, who has now become the highest-scoring Polish player in the history of Spain’s top division, with his tally of 49 goals putting him one ahead of Jan Urban, the former CA Osasuna and Real Valladolid player.

 

 

Lewandowski now has seven goals this season, meaning he has extended his lead at the top of the goalscoring charts. Now 36 years of age, some were ready to write him off after he “only” scored 19 goals in the competition last season, but the centre-forward is averaging one goal per game so far in 2024/25 and has two assists to his name as well.

Having been reunited with his former Bayern Munich coach Hansi Flick, Lewandowski is thriving. As he explained after the 5-1 win at Villarreal CF on Matchday 6: “I think this season we’re passing and crossing into the area more, and as a centre-forward that’s my zone. I can do a lot when I’m in contact with the ball. We’re playing well as a team.”

The best minutes-per-goal ratio of Lewandowski’s career came when he worked under Flick in Munich, as he scored 83 goals in 71 games with the German coach, working out at one goal every 74 minutes on average. His current form at Barça isn’t far off that at all, as the veteran is scoring once every 83 minutes this season.

The coach is delighted to be working with Lewandowski again, and after the Getafe CF victory Flick hailed the Pole as the greatest centre-forward of the past decade. As the coach put it in the post-match press conference: “Lewandowski is, for me, the best No 9 of the past 10 years. His job is to be in front of goal and in the box and he’s doing really great.”

Having already won the Pichichi Trophy as the league’s top scorer in his first Spanish season, when FC Barcelona won the La Liga title in 2022/23, Lewandowski is determined to claim another top scorer prize and, more importantly, another league championship.

As the oldest member of the squad and one of just a handful of players who was there in 2022/23, Lewandowski is also assuming a role as a leader this season. As he has demonstrated by giving more and more interviews in his excellent Spanish, he has truly settled into life in Catalonia and is continuing to thrive even after his 36th birthday.

He can now say that he is the top-scoring Polish player in La Liga history. But, knowing his competitive spirit and love of scoring goals, he’ll want to leave that mark as high as possible, even higher than the 49 goals it’s currently at.

 

 

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