Lewandowski Aims to Continue His Brilliance in the Champions League

The Spanish newspaper 'Mundo Deportivo' reported that Polish striker Robert Lewandowski is preparing to return to participate in the Champions League with Barcelona when the team faces Belgian club Club Brugge, after missing the previous match against Olympiacos.

The newspaper explained that Lewandowski, who started against Newcastle United and came on as a substitute for 18 minutes against Paris Saint-Germain, has not yet been able to score in the current edition of the tournament, but he still has an exceptional scoring record in his European history, having scored 105 goals in 135 matches, with an astonishing scoring rate of 0.78 goals per match.

According to the newspaper, this rate is only surpassed by Erling Haaland and Lionel Messi since the modern format of the tournament was adopted in the 1992/1993 season, where the Norwegian striker has a rate of 1.05 goals per match (53 goals in 51 matches), while the Argentine star's rate stands at 0.79 goals per match (129 goals in 163 matches), placing Lewandowski third among the top scorers in the history of the competition.

The newspaper added that Lewandowski, who is 37 years old, is playing his last season under his current contract with Barcelona, and is seeking to score a new goal in his fifteenth consecutive edition of the Champions League. The 2019/2020 season is considered the best of his career, when he became the tournament's top scorer with 15 goals and led his former team Bayern Munich to win the continental title. He also scored 13 goals in the 2021/2022 season with the Bavarian team, and 11 goals in 13 matches last season wearing the Barcelona jersey, marking his third best scoring season in the tournament.

The newspaper mentioned that Lewandowski participated last season against Inter Milan in the semi-finals while suffering from an injury, as he entered during extra time in the 91st minute after Rafinha's temporary goal made it 3-2 at San Siro, noting that this edition could be the Polish star's last chance to achieve a new title in the Champions League.