Robert Lewandowski's recent scoring feats are unrivalled – even by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Is he Europe's top No 9?
Thursday 24 October 2019 08:18, UK
Robert Lewandowski continued a phenomenal scoring run with two goals in Bayern Munich's 3-2 win over Olympiakos in the Champions League.
The 31-year-old, who also scored twice in Bayern's 7-2 thrashing of Tottenham at the start of October, has now hit 21 goals in 17 appearances for club and country this season.
There have been 18 in 13 games for Bayern, a remarkable record which puts him six goals clear of any other player in Europe's major leagues.
Raheem Sterling is second, his hat-trick against Atalanta on Tuesday taking him to 12 for Manchester City, while Torino's Andrea Belotti has 11 and Sergio Aguero and Lazio's Ciro Immobile have 10.
It's not just this season that Lewandowski comes out on top.
Since the start of 2019, his record stands at 36 goals in 36 games for Bayern Munich, putting him ahead of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, City duo Sterling and Aguero and Cristiano Ronaldo.
He has scored in his last 12 consecutive games for Bayern, a run which stretches back to August, when he netted the opening goal in a 3-1 win over Cottbus in the German Cup.
Lewandowski has scored two goals on 10 separate occasions for Bayern in 2019 and also netted one hat-trick, in a 3-0 win over Bundesliga rivals Schalke in August. There was another hat-trick in Poland's European Qualifier against Latvia earlier this month.
His goals on Tuesday night took him to 58 in the Champions League, moving him above Ruud van Nistelrooy in the list of the competition's all-time leading scorers and leaving him behind only Karim Benzema, Raul, Messi and Ronaldo.
Lewandowski, one of the 30 nominees for this year's Ballon d'Or, has surpassed the 40-goal mark in his last four seasons with Bayern Munich.
If he continues at his current rate, he will eclipse that total for a fifth year in a row long before the current campaign is over.
Since joining Bayern from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2014, Lewandowski has scored 209 goals in 255 club games in total, putting him behind only Messi and Ronaldo in the same time-frame.
He has plenty of work still to do if he is to overhaul that duo, but recent evidence suggests he won't be slowing down any time soon. Right now, Lewandowski has a strong case for being considered Europe's top No 9.
