The Bayern attacker is in excellent shape after the restart of the Champions League. But where does he stand in comparison: is he currently the best player in the world, as Lothar Matthäus says?
His outstanding achievements in recent years are increasingly reflected in the lists of the best: Robert Lewandowski from the German record champions Bayern Munich is now hunting for ex-Schalke Raul in third place in the eternal Champions League scorer list. Only Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are still ahead of it.
With his brace on Saturday evening against Chelsea (4: 1) in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16, the Pole increased his hit count to 66 and is only six goals behind Raul, who once scored 72 goals for Real Madrid and Schalke 04 .
Photo series with 20 pictures
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This season in particular, it becomes clear what value Lewandowski has for FC Bayern.
Matthew: “He is the ultimate”
“He’s actually a phenomenon,” enthused his team-mate Leon Goretzka after defeating Chelsea. And Lothar Matthäus even went one step further.
Germany’s record international player described Lewandowski’s current performance as “outstanding” and said after the Chelsea game on Sky: “He is simply the ultimate in world football and he proved that again today.”
Is Robert Lewandowski actually the best player in the world right now?
Robert Hiersemann
Head of Football and Sports
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Pro
Yes, Lewandowski is the best footballer in the world
Bayern scored seven goals in the two games of the Champions League round of 16 against Chelsea. Lewandowski was directly involved in all hits. The attacker has not only been the record champions’ outstanding player for years, he is also currently the best footballer on our planet. What speaks for it?
First: The success with his team. Because while Cristiano Ronaldo flew out of the premier class with Juventus and Messi lost the championship with Barcelona, Lewandowski led FC Bayern to the championship title and cup victory. He can also continue to dream of winning the Champions League.
Second: the individual service. The Pole shot Bayern in the DFB Cup final with a double to victory, he was Bundesliga top scorer with 34 goals and is also the top scorer in the Champions League with 13 goals – never before have a Bundesliga player scored so many goals in one season in this competition.
It is a huge misfortune that the Ballon d’Or for the world’s best footballer will not be awarded this year due to the corona pandemic. Because there is a footballer who, despite all the difficulties in this crisis-ridden year, deserves the title more than anyone else: and his name is Robert Lewandowski.
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Florian Wichert
Deputy Editor in Chief
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Contra
No, he fails in big games
Lewandowski has been chasing Messi and Ronaldo for ten years. He was neither a world footballer nor Europe, let alone Germany’s footballer of the year. And he’s never won the Champions League. He is to blame for this because he fails in the big games. While Messi or Ronaldo win their clubs games and titles, Lewandowski only scored two goals in the last five years from the quarter-finals – and they were completely worthless.
This season he has scored 53 goals in 44 games, 13 of them in the Champions League – an outstanding rate. Nevertheless, it is also worthless if Lewandowski Bayern does not shoot for the Champions League title in Lisbon in the next two weeks. For that he needs Ronaldo’s goal record (17), for which four goals are still missing.
But even if Lewandowski finally delivers in the big games this season, the question of whether he will then be the best player in the world may be allowed. My answer: no. Because Messi is more brilliant, Ronaldo faster, van Dijk more powerful and Sergio Ramos more determined. They are always present when it matters – and win the big titles for their clubs. Not only in a corona-related tournament without second legs.
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Who is right?
In the “duel of the week”, Florian Wichert (Deputy Editor-in-Chief at t-online.de) and Robert Hiersemann (Head of Football and Sport) comment on current football topics every week.
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