MurciaBear
Well-Known Member
As Rabbie Burns once said " a post's a post for a that".
Lewandowski
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Brother Crockett
Well-Known Member
He's no Rahim Sterling, but he's still pretty good.
prenzlauerbear
Well-Known Member
One of Robert Lewandowski’s many quirks is that at mealtimes he insists on eating his dessert first. Then the starter. Finally, the main course. It is a habit that has drawn more than a few curious looks from his Bayern Munich teammates, yet one derived not from superstition but his wife Anna, a nutrition expert.
Sweet foods – the theory goes – digest quicker, and so by metabolising them first, he avoids mixing them in his stomach with the protein and carbohydrates to come. Another: after consulting a sleep therapist, he only sleeps on his left side, in order to preserve his stronger right leg.
To hone the fierce concentration demanded of an elite striker, he performs computerised brain-training exercises and eschews video games in favour of books.
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Even his superstitions, like putting on his left boot first, have been fully thought out: resulting from a conversation with a psychologist in which he was encouraged to drill his pre-match routine into an instinctive sequence.
Perhaps it helps to think of Lewandowski as a sort of nutty professor, concocting an ever-more daring series of scientific experiments in an attempt to discover the outer limits of himself. Certainly as he goes into Sunday’s Champions League final there is a sense of new frontiers being breached, boundaries being pushed: 55 goals in 46 games this season, an incredible injury record that has never seen him miss more than three games in a row since arriving in the Bundesliga a decade ago. Remarkably, at the age of 32, Lewandowski exudes the aura of a man still making up his own reality as he goes along.
This is not a new trait, but one that has defined him since he emerged out of Warsaw youth football in the mid-2000s: shy, slight and yet with a devouring fixation on his own path to glory.
“When we went on vacation, he was reading books on breathing,” remembers Ivan Djurdjevic, a former teammate at Lech Poznan. “Even then, it was obvious that he was different, that he wanted something more from this world.”
Unlike Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, the other towering forwards of his era, Lewandowski was not born with freakish natural gifts. He didn’t come from a country with a distinguished footballing lineage. He didn’t even represent Poland at youth level until the under-19s. He is by his own admission introverted, and occasionally beset by self-doubt. “When I left Poland,” he once said, “I had a lot of complexes, as every Polish man probably does: that I come from Poland and am worse than everyone else.”
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Robert Lewandowski celebrates a goal against Real Madrid with Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals of 2013. Photograph: Friso Gentsch/EPA
Even at Bayern, where he has now scored 246 goals and won six successive Bundesliga titles, you get the sense he is respected rather than loved: a perfectly-oiled machine rather than their own flesh and blood. For all his stunning numbers, the team is not built around him, either tactically or temperamentally, as it is around Messi or Ronaldo. All the same, with Bayern on the point of their first Champions League triumph since 2013, this finally feels like Lewandowski’s time: the culmination of an intense and highly personal project.
Over the years, Lewandowski’s lust for self-improvement would morph into something close to obsession. At Borussia Dortmund he consciously distanced himself from his Polish teammates Jakub Blaszczykowski and Lukasz Piszczek, because he felt it would encourage him to learn German.
At Bayern, determined to supplant Thomas Müller as the first-choice penalty-taker, he would conspicuously practise his spot-kicks after training in an attempt to impress Pep Guardiola (who eventually relented halfway through his final season at the club). “The most professional player I’ve ever met,” was Guardiola’s verdict. “He thinks about the right food, sleep and training 24 hours a day.”
Now, under the high-intensity, low-pressure tutelage of Hansi Flick, Lewandowski seems to have taken another leap. His header in the 3-0 victory over Lyon on Wednesday night was his 15th Champions League goal of the season, bringing him within two of Ronaldo’s record for a single campaign.
Yet a better gauge of his progress is the 33 passes he completed, 20 of which came in the final third. By way of contrast, take his last semi-final appearance – a 2-2 draw against Real Madrid in 2018 that saw Bayern eliminated. That night at the Bernabéu, despite Bayern dominating possession, he completed just 13 passes, four of them in the final third.
Somehow, Lewandowski has transformed himself into an all-weather attacking phenomenon, equally comfortable overloading the flanks, dropping into midfield or making sacrificial runs into the channels as he is scoring in industrial quantities.
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Lewandowski enjoys a drink after sealing the Bundesliga title in 2016. Photograph: Boris Streubel/Getty Images
All of which gives the impression of a player sharpening to a point, finally shedding his last few inhibitions, extinguishing those few remaining doubts. This has been perhaps the defining note of Lewandowski’s career to date: the sense that however many goals he accumulates against the Colognes and Augsburgs of this world, however many Bundesliga titles he stacks up, there has always remained a certain note of unfulfilment, a whiff of the flat-track bully that he has never quite been able to cast aside.
The Fiver: the Guardian's take on the world of football
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“A winter player,” scoffed the Süddeutsche Zeitung a couple of years ago. “I see too little of him in these [big] games,” Oliver Kahn, the Bayern board member and former goalkeeper, agreed. “He is not doing justice to his status in the game.”
Naturally, there has always been a slight element of unfairness to this. A record of 24 goals in 37 Champions League knockout games hardly suggests he goes missing when the stakes are at their highest.
Sweet foods – the theory goes – digest quicker, and so by metabolising them first, he avoids mixing them in his stomach with the protein and carbohydrates to come. Another: after consulting a sleep therapist, he only sleeps on his left side, in order to preserve his stronger right leg.
To hone the fierce concentration demanded of an elite striker, he performs computerised brain-training exercises and eschews video games in favour of books.
Read more
Even his superstitions, like putting on his left boot first, have been fully thought out: resulting from a conversation with a psychologist in which he was encouraged to drill his pre-match routine into an instinctive sequence.
Perhaps it helps to think of Lewandowski as a sort of nutty professor, concocting an ever-more daring series of scientific experiments in an attempt to discover the outer limits of himself. Certainly as he goes into Sunday’s Champions League final there is a sense of new frontiers being breached, boundaries being pushed: 55 goals in 46 games this season, an incredible injury record that has never seen him miss more than three games in a row since arriving in the Bundesliga a decade ago. Remarkably, at the age of 32, Lewandowski exudes the aura of a man still making up his own reality as he goes along.
This is not a new trait, but one that has defined him since he emerged out of Warsaw youth football in the mid-2000s: shy, slight and yet with a devouring fixation on his own path to glory.
“When we went on vacation, he was reading books on breathing,” remembers Ivan Djurdjevic, a former teammate at Lech Poznan. “Even then, it was obvious that he was different, that he wanted something more from this world.”
Unlike Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, the other towering forwards of his era, Lewandowski was not born with freakish natural gifts. He didn’t come from a country with a distinguished footballing lineage. He didn’t even represent Poland at youth level until the under-19s. He is by his own admission introverted, and occasionally beset by self-doubt. “When I left Poland,” he once said, “I had a lot of complexes, as every Polish man probably does: that I come from Poland and am worse than everyone else.”
FacebookTwitterPinterest
Robert Lewandowski celebrates a goal against Real Madrid with Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals of 2013. Photograph: Friso Gentsch/EPA
Even at Bayern, where he has now scored 246 goals and won six successive Bundesliga titles, you get the sense he is respected rather than loved: a perfectly-oiled machine rather than their own flesh and blood. For all his stunning numbers, the team is not built around him, either tactically or temperamentally, as it is around Messi or Ronaldo. All the same, with Bayern on the point of their first Champions League triumph since 2013, this finally feels like Lewandowski’s time: the culmination of an intense and highly personal project.
Over the years, Lewandowski’s lust for self-improvement would morph into something close to obsession. At Borussia Dortmund he consciously distanced himself from his Polish teammates Jakub Blaszczykowski and Lukasz Piszczek, because he felt it would encourage him to learn German.
At Bayern, determined to supplant Thomas Müller as the first-choice penalty-taker, he would conspicuously practise his spot-kicks after training in an attempt to impress Pep Guardiola (who eventually relented halfway through his final season at the club). “The most professional player I’ve ever met,” was Guardiola’s verdict. “He thinks about the right food, sleep and training 24 hours a day.”
Meanwhile, exposure to the world’s best coaches has allowed him to refine his gift. The deadly finishing and supreme anticipation were always there, but the rest would have to be bolted on. Jürgen Klopp at Dortmund added expression to his game, initially playing Lewandowski as a No 10 against his wishes and encouraging him to help build attacks, not just finish them. Guardiola gave him an unsurpassable tactical education, teaching him how to time and taper his runs so he could pull defences apart without touching a ball. Carlo Ancelotti taught him how to relax. Jupp Heynckes taught him neatness and discipline.
Now, under the high-intensity, low-pressure tutelage of Hansi Flick, Lewandowski seems to have taken another leap. His header in the 3-0 victory over Lyon on Wednesday night was his 15th Champions League goal of the season, bringing him within two of Ronaldo’s record for a single campaign.
Yet a better gauge of his progress is the 33 passes he completed, 20 of which came in the final third. By way of contrast, take his last semi-final appearance – a 2-2 draw against Real Madrid in 2018 that saw Bayern eliminated. That night at the Bernabéu, despite Bayern dominating possession, he completed just 13 passes, four of them in the final third.
Somehow, Lewandowski has transformed himself into an all-weather attacking phenomenon, equally comfortable overloading the flanks, dropping into midfield or making sacrificial runs into the channels as he is scoring in industrial quantities.
FacebookTwitterPinterest
Lewandowski enjoys a drink after sealing the Bundesliga title in 2016. Photograph: Boris Streubel/Getty Images
All of which gives the impression of a player sharpening to a point, finally shedding his last few inhibitions, extinguishing those few remaining doubts. This has been perhaps the defining note of Lewandowski’s career to date: the sense that however many goals he accumulates against the Colognes and Augsburgs of this world, however many Bundesliga titles he stacks up, there has always remained a certain note of unfulfilment, a whiff of the flat-track bully that he has never quite been able to cast aside.
The Fiver: the Guardian's take on the world of football
Read more
“A winter player,” scoffed the Süddeutsche Zeitung a couple of years ago. “I see too little of him in these [big] games,” Oliver Kahn, the Bayern board member and former goalkeeper, agreed. “He is not doing justice to his status in the game.”
Naturally, there has always been a slight element of unfairness to this. A record of 24 goals in 37 Champions League knockout games hardly suggests he goes missing when the stakes are at their highest.
prenzlauerbear
Well-Known Member
Continued...
in part, you wonder if Lewandowski is a victim of his superhuman everyday form, which leaves him vulnerable to criticism when his output is merely human.
You wonder, too, if he is being held culpable for the wider sense of waste at Bayern over the past few seasons, the opportunities spurned, the big games gone begging, those serial knockout failures against Barcelona in 2015, Atlético Madrid in 2016, Real in 2017 and 2018.
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Now, though, the road lies clear. For all the focus on how Bayern’s high line will cope with PSG’s front three on Sunday night, the battle at the other end will be just as pivotal: a Paris defence that for all its organisation and discipline has been exposed in the past by a fierce counterpress.
For Lewandowski, whose one previous final with Dortmund ended in defeat to Bayern in 2013, it is the chance to crown a stellar career with the seal of greatness. As he does with his meals, Lewandowski may just have saved his best for last.
in part, you wonder if Lewandowski is a victim of his superhuman everyday form, which leaves him vulnerable to criticism when his output is merely human.
You wonder, too, if he is being held culpable for the wider sense of waste at Bayern over the past few seasons, the opportunities spurned, the big games gone begging, those serial knockout failures against Barcelona in 2015, Atlético Madrid in 2016, Real in 2017 and 2018.
The Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email.
Now, though, the road lies clear. For all the focus on how Bayern’s high line will cope with PSG’s front three on Sunday night, the battle at the other end will be just as pivotal: a Paris defence that for all its organisation and discipline has been exposed in the past by a fierce counterpress.
For Lewandowski, whose one previous final with Dortmund ended in defeat to Bayern in 2013, it is the chance to crown a stellar career with the seal of greatness. As he does with his meals, Lewandowski may just have saved his best for last.
Danger Zone
Just the tip...
Sounds like a screwball, but then you can hardly argue with the results can you? Sensational striker.
Blueintheknow
Active Member
Would have done more if he got his move to Blackburn
Neilstonger
Well-Known Member
No chance. Can you imagine what Jimmy Bell would make of his name on the back of a shirt??Shit I thought we had signed him.
NDC bear forever
Well-Known Member
Werent we in for him the summer of 2007?Shit I thought we had signed him.
sulabear
Well-Known Member
Bluebluecee
Well-Known Member
If only he played for the bheasts it would have been awarded
Dave570
Well-Known Member
No idea mate. I can't remember what I did yesterday.
midlandbear
Well-Known Member
As much as you and I disagree on many things, this is a point that drives me mental.
The English media and fans have this unwarranted sense of superiority that really beggars belief. They are the most underachieving race of footballers in the history of the game, yet they believe that if they are English and play in the EPL they are priceless. In reality, there is nobody in the current England team who I think could walk into a Barca/Real Madrid team the way Gerrard, Scholes or Lampard could have.
And by the way, as much as many may disagree, I’m including guys like Sterling and Sancho in that assessment.
Harry Kane is a good striker, I won’t dispute that. However if you put him in that Munich team and ask him to do RL’s job, he would be found wanting in pretty major fashion.
Mustang mad
Well-Known Member
The Germans do tend to struggle in these comps , don't they
Danger Zone
Just the tip...
Scored in every round except the final. Flat track bully
Bakubear
Well-Known Member
Got to be a joy to watch.
Debated with my lad watching last night and he thinks Messi as 3rd place, as much as him being one of my fav players of all time there is not way he should be on the top 3. You cant captain your side to an 8-2 gubbing, give up then expect awards.
Debated with my lad watching last night and he thinks Messi as 3rd place, as much as him being one of my fav players of all time there is not way he should be on the top 3. You cant captain your side to an 8-2 gubbing, give up then expect awards.
Deep fried hamburger
Well-Known Member
Deep fried hamburger
Well-Known Member
What is this hard on you've got for Kane? He's good yeah but nowhere near some other strikers level.
The GOAT
Well-Known Member
The holders of both European trophies are English and all 4 finalists were from England ffs
The league is probably overhyped but the only country who regularly outperform them on the highest stage is probably the Spanish league.
Wow, a one-off season.
Teams from other leagues regularly hump EPL sides in Europe. For the amount of money EPL sides spent, they are a continual embarrassment. Spurs getting destroyed on their own ground by Bayern, Man City getting knocked out by the 7th best team in France, and Chelsea also taking an absolute pounding from Bayern. Cricket scores.
The EPL is a poor league. It may be rich and it may be well marketed but it doesn't have the quality that other leagues have.
Their top 4 would get a hiding from the top 4 or 5 of the other major leagues. And see when you get to teams from 5th to 20th in the EPL, it's a wide vareity of real average bottom-feeding shíte.
If we sell Alfie.Shit I thought we had signed him.
Clay Davis
Haha! I'm Thick
I don’t have a dog in the fight mate but the English sides have generally done well in Europe over the last 10 years. Only Spain have had more winners or finalists across both competitions.
prenzlauerbear
Well-Known Member
Lewandowski now has a record 63 goals for his country, and scored 55 goals in 47 games last season as Bayern won the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup.
He has scored 100 goals in his last 99 games for Bayern in all competitions, and now has eight in his last 10 internationals.
Legend of the game.
He has scored 100 goals in his last 99 games for Bayern in all competitions, and now has eight in his last 10 internationals.
Legend of the game.
The Golden God
Well-Known Member
He was 100% robbed of the Balon D'or this year or whenever it was supposed to be held.
Danger Zone
Just the tip...
He’s no Harold Kane.
What a player though, he was a shoe in for the top awards. He can still do it this season mind.
What a player though, he was a shoe in for the top awards. He can still do it this season mind.
Business_Bear
Well-Known Member
Ridiculous they couldn't have held it over Zoom or wherever.
HamiltonBear
Well-Known Member
HamiltonBear
Well-Known Member
Autobahn for killing the dream...
HamiltonBear
Well-Known Member
I think the point is that the fatcats don't seem to feel it's worth drinking at home, unless big Berlusconi is bringing the bunga bunga party.
Marstonbear
Well-Known Member
Have we signed him yet?
HamiltonBear
Well-Known Member
Need to wait until January. He will probably sit out the group stages of CL so he’s not cup tied.
Danger Zone
Just the tip...
they could even scrap that and just declare him the winner and send it out to him. To not do anything at all is a bit shit regardless of covid.
Mickey Donovan
Well-Known Member
Hahahaha, complete rubbish.
Out of interest, other than “big” what else in that post possibly made you think of Jon Daly???
HamiltonBear
Well-Known Member
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