Robert Lewandowski was battling towards the percentages at Barcelona.
As their disappointing 2023-24 season got here to an in depth, senior decision-makers on the membership had been open to the thought of promoting the veteran striker after simply two seasons at Barca. He had scored 19 league objectives as they completed runners-up to Actual Madrid in La Liga (so as to add to 23 objectives in his first season), however Xavi and his teaching employees believed Lewandowski, who turned 36 in August, didn’t have the urgent potential and off-the-ball necessities to guide the road anymore.
Six months later, Barcelona are high of La Liga, have thrashed Madrid and his outdated membership Bayern Munich up to now month, and Lewandowski is the highest scorer in Europe’s high 5 leagues throughout all competitions, with 19 objectives in 17 matches.
Many issues have modified at Barca throughout that point. Hansi Flick changed Xavi as head coach, wonderkids from La Masia, similar to Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi, have continued their spectacular rises and the Catalan membership has awoken as a European pressure. Lewandowski has been a significant a part of that success, scoring extra objectives than video games performed in each La Liga and the Champions League.
Even for a participant of his huge expertise, the Polish striker is the primary to confess there was a steep adaptation course of since he arrived as their marquee signing in the summertime of 2022.
“It could be troublesome to match with different golf equipment, however every part will get very noisy at Barcelona,” Lewandowski tells The Athletic in an unique interview this week. “I’ve learnt in these years within the membership find out how to steer clear of this. At the beginning, I learn and heard a variety of disinformation and in some circumstances, I didn’t perceive why it was taking place.
“However then I understood how this media world works in Barcelona and I made a decision to be utterly out (disconnected from it). I don’t focus anymore on these items, it’s an excessive amount of and never good for the long run of your profession.”
It’s not been simply the media panorama that has taken some getting used to for Lewandowski. The 36-year-old performs a major position in a dressing room filled with precocious abilities. He’s 19 years older than Yamal and Cubarsi and there’s a 16-year age hole between him and Gavi, in addition to a 15-year one with Alejandro Balde, Marc Casado and Fermin Lopez.
Lewandowski and Yamal celebrating throughout the Clasico win earlier this season (Angel Martinez/Getty Photos)
At a time when Barcelona wanted them given the monetary constraints on the membership, the subsequent era have stepped up and made a big impact within the first group. For older gamers, notably those that didn’t come by means of the membership’s academy, it’s been vital to grasp and embrace these rising stars.
“In the beginning of my time right here, I wanted to grasp the brand new era — their pondering and every part,” says Lewandowski, who’s talking in his position as an envoy for the digital leisure market G2A. “I needed to study Spanish as effectively, however then I began speaking with them about totally different topics at lunch tables or moments we had collectively. It’s simple for me to speak concerning the experiences I’ve had in my profession, or just after I was a young person.
“Kids are utterly totally different now. After I was youthful, when a veteran instructed me to do one thing, I’d obey them straight and not using a single query. Now it’s totally different, it’s not good or dangerous, don’t get me unsuitable, it’s simply totally different. They’re fearless in each sense and never solely in soccer. Society is like that. Kids are extra fearless and self-confident.
“During the last 12 months, I really feel I’ve clicked in a greater manner with them. I normally sit at lunch with a number of children and we talk about life. I take heed to their worries and so they ask what I used to assume at their age. In a manner, we had been very comparable, however I noticed the world from a special perspective to what they’ve now.”
Flick has acted as a unifying issue between these two worlds, the outdated and the brand new. Eyebrows had been raised when a German supervisor who didn’t communicate the language was appointed in the summertime, however he embraced the job, improved the group and really shortly gained over the doubters.
“Each particular person within the membership is doing higher,” says Lewandowski. “We, the gamers, are doing nice on the pitch. I additionally assume all of us really feel stronger. When you may have this health preparation now we have now, you don’t want to fret about holding the bodily calls for of the sport after which additionally take into consideration find out how to beat your opponent. We now know we’re tremendous, now we have the facility and the legs to do what we’d like.”
Some gamers current for Flick’s first coaching periods instructed The Athletic they had been impressed by the German’s information of each La Masia graduate and what they might deliver to the primary group. Even the kids had been impressed by this and the boldness he instilled in them has been translated onto the pitch, as seen within the emergence of less-heralded gamers similar to Casado and the now-injured Marc Bernal.
Lewandowski, in fact, had a previous with Flick. They labored collectively at Bayern, attaining nice success collectively in 2020 once they gained the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and the Champions League. The striker, who was named UEFA’s participant of the 12 months throughout his time in Munich with Flick, says the 59-year-old’s man-management has been key to Barcelona’s progress.
Flick and Lewandowski after being named coach and participant of the 12 months in Germany in 2020 (M. Donato/FC Bayern through Getty Photos)
“I believe the primary time I spoke with him this 12 months was within the interval when Barcelona had been searching for a brand new supervisor (Xavi left the membership on Could 24). It was a brief interval, about two or three weeks earlier than the beginning of summer season,” he says.
“After I acquired the knowledge, I used to be very completely happy as a result of I knew what was going to occur. I’ve labored rather a lot with Hansi and we don’t want to speak an excessive amount of — we perceive one another very simply and don’t want too many phrases. When he tries to clarify one thing, I can perceive right away the way in which he needs to persuade us to play. This is without doubt one of the issues I like essentially the most about him.
“Not simply as a coach, he’s a really direct and honest particular person. Even with the gamers who don’t play, he’ll attempt to communicate to you and inform you the reality. I believe all of the gamers recognize that as a result of if somebody is absolutely sincere with you, then you possibly can perceive their choices higher.”
The admiration is mutual. In September, after Barcelona beat Getafe 1-0 because of a purpose from the striker, Flick didn’t hesitate in saying: “Lewandowski is, for me, the most effective No 9 within the final decade of soccer.”
“I’m very glad to see that the coach helps me. However for me, at this level of my profession, seeing what someone says to the media will not be that vital,” Lewandowski says.
“A very powerful factor is what he says to me in personal, within the dressing room, in conferences or each day in coaching periods. There’s even generally he (Flick) doesn’t say one thing to the media however he says it to me straight. That is key.”
Lewandowski talking to The Athletic about life at Barcelona and excelling within the Messi-Ronaldo period (Eduard Duran for The Athletic)
The striker’s phrases would possibly take you again to final season when Xavi was complimentary about Lewandowski in media duties, however that didn’t appear to translate into the membership’s planning in Could.
“I don’t check with any moments specifically, however in my profession, I’ve seen that, generally, what goes round will not be completely actual. The worth of the phrases, for me, is larger when anybody says it in personal to me,” Lewandowski says.
“There are a variety of politics as effectively within the business. I do know an excessive amount of about this enterprise. I’m not the man who believes if somebody says an opinion about something… I favor to take heed to sure issues myself to then belief them.
“This isn’t just for me I believe. For the remainder of my team-mates, too. A very powerful factor is what we focus on indoors, between ourselves.”
Like loads of his team-mates, at Barcelona and his earlier golf equipment, Lewandowski is a giant fan of gaming and has been for a very long time.
“So far as I keep in mind, I beloved taking part in video games in my free time,” he says. “Even now, when free time is one thing very invaluable, it simply permits me to modify off. It’s a house of time after I don’t take into consideration anything. I’m so centered and really feel in a special world.”
This feeds into what he says is a “very pure” link-up with G2A, who describe themselves because the world’s largest market for digital leisure.
“I’ve been an enormous fan of Formulation 1 and NBA for years, so I play these video games. Now I additionally spend a variety of time on army video games. I keep in mind after I was like 20, at Dortmund, we had been taking part in on-line with the remainder of our team-mates. We had been like 15 totally different gamers in the identical sport. In that point, with out household, it was most likely simpler,” he says with fun.
His primary precedence in life is his household — his spouse Anna, who he married in 2013, and his two daughters, Laura (aged 14) and Klara (aged 7).
“The primary place goes to my household,” he says. “At any time when now we have time and alternative, we spend time doing issues, speaking, and being collectively. Kids offer you a special perspective, you’re answerable for them and also you watch them develop their pursuits, search for their very own hobbies and pursue them.
“I really like exhibiting the world to my daughters.”
Lewandowski has scored 525 objectives in 674 video games throughout his time at Borussia Dortmund, Bayern and Barca and 84 in 156 appearances for the Poland nationwide group. In Europe’s high 5 leagues, he has gained 11 league titles, 4 home cups and lifted the Champions League with Bayern (in addition to being runner-up with Dortmund in 2013).
It has been a removed from common path to soccer’s elite, too. He performed for 5 totally different Polish groups between the age of 17 and 22, progressing and getting higher strikes every time, earlier than securing a switch from Lech Poznan to Dortmund in 2010. He has by no means regarded again and might really feel aggrieved to not have gained the Ballon d’Or in 2020 — when the award was cancelled because of the pandemic — after a really excellent season at Bayern Munich.
“In a manner, strikers have to be egocentric generally,” he says when reflecting on his goalscoring. “There will be conditions the place the group will not be discovering their manner and the strikers, for the place we play in, could make a distinction by doing their very own factor.
“I believe that there are two positions within the sport that require a special character from different footballers: goalkeepers and strikers. We each could make a distinction out of nothing.”
This mentality maybe displays the period he has lived and performed in: led by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, two prolific goalscorers who motivated themselves by means of fierce ambition to be the most effective within the sport. It’s exhausting to face tall beside these two, however Lewandowski believes there are lots of causes to really feel pleased with his legacy — and to know that he has gone toe-to-toe with these two greats in spells and at occasions even surpassed them. Solely Messi and Ronaldo have greater than his 99 objectives within the Champions League; he might hit 100 on Tuesday towards French facet Brest.
“I’ve been taking part in soccer in the identical period as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. I believe I’ve been near that elite degree in some moments and even beat them in several video games. I believe we will say I used to be round!” he says.
“It means rather a lot in case you get near guys like this. It makes me very proud to see that within the period of Messi and Ronaldo, generally, Lewandowski additionally managed to interrupt some data and make an affect.”
Lewandowski and Messi going through one another on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar (Michael Regan – FIFA/FIFA through Getty Photos)
Sustaining greatness is the most important problem for the subsequent era, similar to Yamal and Cubarsi, in response to Lewandowski. Earlier this season, he described Yamal as “the most effective winger on the planet in the mean time”. It was huge reward — not simply from a team-mate, however from a striker who has been surrounded by a few of the world’s finest huge gamers all through his profession.
“Each younger expertise on the planet must have the problem to not simply attain the highest of soccer, however to remain there,” says Lewandowski. “And for me, these days, this may be much more troublesome than earlier than.
“Now you may have social media, footballers with cash from a younger age, possibly you win some titles and you’ve got lots of people saying you’re nice… all of this may be troublesome to course of. Should you don’t construct up the mentality in the fitting time, in a while, it may be sophisticated to determine the harder conditions.”
In 2022, Lewandowski signed a three-year contract with Barcelona, extendable to a fourth season if he performed greater than 50 per cent of minutes within the 2024-25 marketing campaign. Everybody on the membership expects this clause to be triggered and for Lewandowski to stay Barca’s No 9 for an additional 12 months.
Are there extra plans in Lewandowski’s thoughts past that?
“I can’t do too many long-term plans proper now. I see myself very effectively now,” he says. “Perhaps in two or three years, I really feel like I don’t need to play anymore on the high degree, however on this age, you possibly can’t know precisely what’s occurring. However I really feel that I’m the place I dreamt to be, in the fitting place with the fitting individuals.
“The best way Barca followers have supported me, it’s been wonderful. In video games but in addition in my each day life, it’s been particular.”
He’s focusing on the 2026 World Cup with Poland, too: “I need to be a part of the qualifiers and we’ll see. For me, it’s particular to play for my nation, I can by no means say I’ve had sufficient. I really feel I’ve this energy to assist them on and off the pitch.”
His contract at Barcelona has usually been a topic of dialogue across the membership. Lewandowski is without doubt one of the high earners and final September, in a press convention, president Joan Laporta revealed the striker supplied to “ample his contract” in a manner that would assist Barca’s funds to register new signing Dani Olmo on time.
“I would like to not speak about particulars,” says Lewandowski when requested what precisely he proposed to the membership. “For me, it’s that being part of Barcelona is not only being a participant. I believe I will be an vital determine within the membership in all departments. I prefer to share what I believe, my opinions. I’ve had many experiences in soccer, administration and every part across the business, so I believe my ideas will be useful.
“After I spoke with the president, I shared my ideas. I’m an individual who will not be afraid of sharing opinions. To not assault anybody, however simply focus on the most effective options for the membership.
“If we get the membership to a greater place, that’s going to have an excellent affect on me, too, in order that’s a win-win and the easiest way to reside my career.”
Barcelona are doing loads of profitable in the mean time, six factors away from Actual Madrid on the high of La Liga (albeit their rivals have a sport in hand) and in line to qualify robotically for the Champions League spherical of 16.
Lewandowski, on the ripe outdated age of 36, is taking part in a starring position.
(Extra contributor: Mark Carey)
(High picture: David Ramos/Getty Photos)