Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL, TOMORROW, 8PM WORLDIES Forget Neymar, Mbappe and the rest... Lewandowski is best player on planet
OWEN HARGREAVES believes Robert Lewandowski is the best player on the planet and will lead Bayern Munich to Champions League glory.
The Poland striker scored the 55th goal of his extraordinary season as the Bundesliga champions beat Lyon in the semi-finals. Former Bayern midfielder Hargreaves reckons “under-rated” Lewandowski, who once nearly joined Blackburn for £4million, is worth more than both of the PSG superstars Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. “I don’t think I would be wrong in saying that Neymar and Mbappe are the two most talented, naturally gifted players on that pitch on Sunday,” said the BT Sport analyst. “But the best player in the world right now is Lewandowski.
“His body of work, especially this season, is his best ever.
“He is the most in-form player in the world. So if you can take a talent – and Lewandowski has very good talent – and include a work ethic and a desire and a hunger to improve, then all of a sudden you get a season like this where if there were a Ballon D’OR, it would probably be his.
“I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves – he is under-rated.”
Lewandowski, who turned 32 yesterday, has improved late in his career thanks to a regimented life of diet and exercise overseen by his wife Anna, a karate World Cup bronze medallist and nutritionalist.
Former England star Hargreaves was part of Ottmar Hitzfeld’s Bayern team which did the Bundesliga-champions League double in 2001, while Jupp Heynckes side completed the Bavarian club’s only treble in 2013.
But Hansi Flick, who took over in November, has already achieved the domestic double and enters their first Champions League final since 2013 on a run of 20 wins.
“Tactically and technically, every aspect of the team is of the highest, highest level,” said Hargreaves.
“They steamrollered Barcelona in the quarter-final. If they win the treble, they go down as one of the greatest Bayern teams ever.”