Player Profile: Robert Lewandowski

Robert Lewandowski is possibly the greatest ever Polish player. The captain of Poland has the most appearances and scored the most goals for his country. He holds a plethora of records thanks to his goalscoring ability and has scored well over 500 senior career goals for club and country. Lewandowski joined Barcelona in 2022 in a €45.00m move after growing increasingly disillusioned with Bayern Munich. 

Lewandowski has been in a rich vein of form since 2019. In the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich, he notched up 110 goals and 14 assists in just 94 games. All doubts about Lewandowski being able to score only in Bundesliga were quelled this season as he’s scored 13 goals in 13 starts for Barcelona this season.

Lewandowski is a ruthless striker. He positions himself beautifully, losing defenders and giving himself the space needed to take a shot. Lewy never gives up on any play and has the intelligence to position himself if the goalkeeper spills the ball. His technique is second to none. Lewandowski is also a marvellous finisher of the ball, he can finish with both feet and his head.  His work rate and defensive prowess when called upon are also impressive. His off-the-ball movement and composure in front of goal allow him to constantly get into goalscoring positions. He has all the skills needed to be a complete forward, lacking in no particular area. His knack for scoring goals in such that he’s often referred to as Lewangoalski.

Despite having a glittering club career winning just about everything, Lewandowski has yet to achieve anything significant with his national side. With this being his last world cup at 33 (or at least the last world cup in his prime), he’ll feel the pressure as captain to pull the team, at least out of the group stage. Poland faces a tough group with Argentina and Mexico both aiming to get through the group stage. Poland will need their captain to do what he does best and hope they can make it out of the group stage in Qatar ‘22, hopefully their first knockout stage since Mexico ‘86.