Emotional Lewandowski misses penalty in stalemate
ROBERT Lewandowski suffered fresh World Cup misery as the Poland striker’s penalty was saved in a 0-0 draw against Mexico on Tuesday.
Lewandowski has never scored at a World Cup and the Barcelona striker had admi ed it would be a “huge dream” to finally get off the mark on the global stage.
Instead, the 34-year-old’s dream turned into a bit of a nightmare when he won a second-half penalty, only for goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa to keep out his tame effort.
“I didn’t score, that sure hurts,” Polish media quoted him as saying.
“It’s a penalty, a lo ery, you can’t explain it.”
Lewandowski, Poland’s record scorer with 76 goals, has ne ed 18 times in 19 appearances for Barcelona, the club he joined in the close season a er bagging 344 goals in eight trophy-filled years at Bayern Munich.
Yet the World Cup has proved barren for Lewandowski, with this latest goalless outing coming a er he failed to score in Poland’s three games when they bowed out in the group stage four years ago.
“When Robert misses there is always the question why. He will answer that best.
“Yesterday he trained and he never missed with his penalties,” Poland boss Czeslaw Michniewicz said.
“Other great players have missed penalties. It’s a pity. I know how much he wanted to score at a World Cup.
“I sympathise with him. He was very emotional about it. I hope there will be other opportunities for him.
“We know he will help us a lot in this tournament.”
Saudi Arabia’s stunning 2-1 win over Argentina earlier on Tuesday had blown open the race to progress to the last 16 from Group C.
But this was a frustrating draw for both teams, with Lewandowski wasting the best chance of a cagey game and Mexico ruing their failure to turn territorial dominance into goals.