ROBERT IS PUT ON SPOT

BY DARREN LEWIS ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI has been left to decide if he wants to continue taking penalties after his World Cup curse continued against Mexico.

The Poland striker has smashed 76 goals in 135 appearances for his country. But in four World Cup outings, he has yet to break his duck and missed a penalty (above) in his country’s opener against the Mexicans.

Ahead of today’s clash against Saudi Arabia – who caused one of the all-time World Cup shocks by beating Argentina on Monday – Poland head coach Czeslaw Michniewicz insisted he has faith in Lewandowski to end that run.

But Michniewicz hinted it will be up to his legendary marksman to decide whether he wants to take another spot-kick if Poland get one.

Michniewicz said: “We talked with the entire team and we debriefed the entire match with Mexico. I spoke with every single player.

“When it comes to the penalties, Robert is still No. 1. As a striker he will make a decision whether he will shoot or pass it on to someone else. He feels ready to score for Poland.”

Lewandowski quit Bayern for Barcelona in the summer and has hit 18 goals in 19 games ahead of this World Cup.

His Poland team-mate Jan Bednarek, on loan at Aston Villa from Southampton, revealed the striker is now hungry to add to that in Qatar.

“Robert is our captain, he’s a striker,” Bednarek said. “He wants to score as many goals as he can, but for him the good of the team is most important. He wants us to win.”

Michniewicz fears some of his men may have suffered stage fright in their 0-0 draw against the Mexicans.

But he believes they will put that right today.

He added: “We want to score goals, we will be more courageous, perhaps the stage fright of the first game paralysed some people to a certain degree but that won’t be there anymore.

“Saudi Arabia beat Argentina and we tied with Mexico, but I think we are equal teams.”