Lewandowski proves he is more than a goal machine before getting injured
Arguably football’s finest No 9 proved there is more to his game than goals.
Bayern Munich’s great guarantor moonlighted as their chief creator, too.
Robert Lewandowski conjured two assists on Tuesday night, helping put the Germans 2-0 up at Stamford Bridge and clearing their path to the Uefa Champions League quarter-finals.
A third goal, scored by Lewandowski, ensured Bayern departed West London with a 3-0 first-leg lead.
Given the deficit, Chelsea’s latest European adventure appears run even if Bayern discovered later that the win had come at a heavy price.
The Polish international, in deadly form until Tuesday, was ruled out for around four weeks with a fracture in a blow to Bayern’s Bundesliga title defence. A club statement that Lewandowski, 31, had fractured his tibia near his left knee joint.
The onus of taking the mantle from Lewandowski will now rest on Serge Gnabry, who got the opening goals on Tuesday, both created by Lewandowski. The goals were further evidence that Arsenal were too quick to judge a fleet-footed forward, that Tony Pulis did not realise he had a diamond among the deep rough at West Bromich Albion.
Of course, Gnabry played his part in his English struggles. Still, two trips to the country’s capital have provided massive gains: four goals against Tottenham
Hotspur in a groupstage thumping, two more at Chelsea.
Yet, the first against Frank Lampard’s side owed much to Lewandowski’s intuition. Peeling into an area beyond the Chelsea back-line, the striker collected Gnabry’s pass and, when a shot was anticipated, pulled back the ball for his teammate to place home. Lewandowski had not looked up, his appreciation of what was developing around him astute. For the second, he was clever enough to nudge off Andreas Christensen, then capable of sliding a perfect pass to Gnabry. Set free, his grateful colleague applied the finish.
Bayern’s third goal capped an exceptional night for the club and the individual.
Central to their success, Lewandowski outshone the increasingly impressive Alphonso Davies – a lightning and luminary left wingback – the ever-dangerous Gnabry, and Thomas Muller, a ghosting attacker who, like Bayern, has cast aside his early season troubles. With Lewandowski ahead, offering a focal point and demanding defenders’ focus, they thrive.
As always, Lewandowski’s numbers are outstanding: 43 goals in 39 matches for club and country this season; 25 in 23 Bundesliga games; 11 in seven in the Champions League.
His knack for finding the net catapulted Bayern back to the top of the German title race. His injury sets back the Bavarians as more-than-credible candidates to add a first European
Cup in seven years. It remains a significant trophy absent from Lewandowski’s CV.
The injury will knock Lewandowski from the summit of the scoring charts, ahead of the prodigious Erling Haaland and way out in front of Harry Kane and Luis Suarez, both also injured at present.
All three are viewed as contenders for the mantle of the game’s supreme frontman.
“Robert is playing in the form of his life, he’s top-fit and full of confidence,” Hans-Dieter Flick, the Bayern manager, had warned on the eve of the clash with Chelsea.
But, then, he is more than that, as well.
He is a leader on the pitch, a constant threat, a master of his craft who can change a game with a goal or carve open an opposition.
The comparisons to Kane are obvious: each has the vision to go with the finishing.
This season, the Pole became the quickest in history to four goals in a single Champions League match, in the 6-0 rout of Red Star Belgrade. It was his second quartet in the competition. Only Lionel Messi can lay claim to that.
On Tuesday, the goal against Chelsea carried Lewandowski to nine in away matches in this Champions League.
He is the second to achieve that feat, after Cristiano Ronaldo, six seasons ago.
Admittedly, Bayern are not without fault. As they showed at times against Chelsea, they can be got at. And without Lewandowski, their continental ambitions could take a hit.