Bayern Munich: Lewandowski edging closer to historic feat
By Adam Schultz
Everyone in the football world knows that Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski is a phenomenal player. He is currently chasing down Gerd Muller’s record of 40 goals in a single Bundesliga season and after his first-half hat-trick against Stuttgart, he is nearly there.
One could assume that getting so close to a record that has stood for over 40 years could be a potentially daunting prospect for the Bayern frontman. Perhaps starting to freeze up in front of goal a little bit, but the man himself has no such issues.
Lewandowski has been red hot form for Die Roten for the majority of the 2020/21 campaign. However, 2021 has been much better than 2020 for the Polish striker in terms of his goal-scoring streak. He is managing to score braces consistently to give his team some cushion while defending in league games.
With the elusive record just around the corner, all eyes will be on Lewandowski after the international. Considering his form, he could achieve that target within a couple of games. The Polish striker spoke with Bundesliga.com about being so close to Gerd’s record and if he feels any pressure to surpass him.
"“For sure, I wanted to score the goals, but I’m not thinking about this [Müller’s record], because I don’t want to put myself under a lot of pressure. I just want to do my job.”“I have to stay calm. We have a few games, we have also the Champions League. It’s playing every three days, it’s not easy and you have to stay on top form.”"
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His job is simply to put the ball in the back of the net and that is something that he has done better than any player on the planet over the last 24 months. You could argue that he should have had the Ballon d”Or last season and you would be hard-pressed to find someone in the football world who would say he did not deserve it. Well if it didn’t deserve it last season, then this year he most definitely does without a shadow of a doubt.
His scoring rate is simply ridiculous and when being compared to other forwards across the planet, he is head and shoulders above the rest. Both of the Bundesliga’s top marksmen behind Lewy are Erling Haaland and Andre Silva, both are on 21 goals for the season, which is a decent return, while the two megastars of world football in Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi are on 23.
Across all competitions this year, Lewandowski has 42 goals in 36 games as well as eight assists, which is mind-blowing. At this stage, it now appears that Gerd Muller’s record will almost certainly be broken and what a feat that is going to be.
A record that has stood for over 40 years is on the cusp of being broken and what better player to do it in Lewandowski. He still will need to just about average a goal a game for the rest of the Bundesliga campaign, but given how easily and quickly he can score goals, he might even surpass the 40 goal mark with a game or two to spare. Remarkable.