Lewandowski's space feat. Magical 24 minutes of football

It's a magical 24-minute session – goal, replay, no unnecessary shots. And so on 101 times. A warehouse of goals – with the right foot, left, volley, header, from play, from set pieces, after running to the near post and from near the far post, right in front of the goal, but also from outside the penalty area. After reaching goal number 82 – scored with a roll against Dynamo Kyiv – one is certain: Lewandowski has scored every goal a center forward can score in the Champions League.

One hundred goals by Robert Lewandowski in the Champions League. This is its greatness

On Tuesday, the day Robert Lewandowski scored his 100th and 101st goals in the Champions League, I watched all his goals in the competition. And I didn't really learn anything new about him. This session rather consolidates and confirms everything we already know about him. We don't see a genius in this clip, but a hard worker. These hundred goals show how he developed over the years, how he expanded his skills to include penalties and free kicks, and how he refined the details. Finally – as in every small element, he wanted to be as close to perfection as possible and how versatile it made him become. There is no talent in these actions, there is not much magic in them. There aren't even many goals that only Lewandowski could score. This is the opposite of Messi, whose album is full of goals that only he could score. You watch them and every now and then you get action from space, beyond the capabilities of other football players. Lewandowski scored goals that virtually any Champions League striker could have scored. But he collected a hundred of them! And that is its greatness.

There are, of course, a few masterpieces – they must have been there considering the scale. The already mentioned overturn against Dynamo Kiev, the third goal out of four against Real Madrid, and the free kick against Atletico Madrid are suitable for framing. But the delight is not the quality of individual hits, but the sum of all of them. How repetitive and regular it has been over the last few years.

The ball hits the goal and more thoughts come to mind. Showing

Over the last 13 years, we have seen many of these actions on an ongoing basis, and we remember many of them. But since Lewandowski completed the entire hundred, it's worth watching them all again. If only to capture and appreciate what we were missing during such a session – every little goal that wasn't jaw-dropping, after which we glanced at the TV and moved on, because after all, these goals were very common to us. It has become normal for a Pole to score a goal almost every match in the middle of the week in the most important European competitions. It didn't make headlines, it wasn't a topic of conversation on trams. We got used to it.

It is also worth watching this clip to better understand the scale of this achievement – after all, Lewandowski scored the first goal in 2011, when “Playstation 3” was displayed on advertising banners, and he was in more or less equal form until the three were replaced by the five. During this time, he changed clubs, his coaches changed, the requirements towards him changed, and his status in the eyes of his rivals changed. The only thing that hasn't changed is that he was still scoring goals. Impressive.

This goal tour will be different for everyone. Everyone can see something different. There's something else to pay attention to, something else to be fascinated by. The ball hits the goal and various thoughts come to mind.

• the first – that this great match against Real came very quickly, because he only scored the eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh goals in it
• second – that the goal with which he completed his hat-trick in that match was probably his most perfect of all hundred: receiving with the left foot with a turn, escaping, rolling the ball with the right foot, hitting the crossbar from an uncomfortable position – what coordination and freedom of movement, what confidence
• the third – that he hit the first two penalties with all his strength into the center of the goal, and only later became a master at cheating goalkeepers. And here I am reminded of an anecdote told to me by Marek Kalitowicz, one of Lewandowski's friends. – We were once a group of friends at Robert's for a morning training. We went there with empty stomachs, we were supposed to go for breakfast later. The training was over, all the players left, only “Lewy” and the reserve goalkeeper remained. He scored penalties and then free kicks. A good half hour. We shouted at him to stop because we were hungry. He just smiled, he had to do his thing. Later we shouted at him a bit: “Why are you practicing these penalties when you're maybe fourth in line? There's Arjen Robben, Thomas Mueller and Frank Ribery ahead of you.” He replied: “Don't worry, it will come in handy,” he said. It was useful. Also to score that 100th goal
• fourth – that changing the club did not have to be so painless and smooth. This thought occurred to me around the thirtieth goal: in Dortmund he often ran into the penalty area and got to the ball, he scored a lot of goals while running, took advantage of the free space, while in Munich he was already waiting for the ball in the penalty area, he scored almost standing up, being closer goals. He adapted quickly, even though he was supposed to be another central thimble who wouldn't fit into Pep Guardiola's system.
• fifth – that the 37th goal is the best proof of his continuous development. In fact, Paweł Wilkowicz, the author of Lewandowski's biography “Nienasycony”, drew attention to this goal in an interview for Sport.pl. “Already as a well-formed footballer, encouraged by Carlo Ancelotti, he started shooting free kicks during training, staying after classes to shoot them. And he shot them in such a way that the ball fell into the goal just when he wanted to announce something to the world [włożył wtedy piłkę pod koszulkę, ogłaszając, że jego żona jest w ciąży – red.]. And Jurgen Klopp already told him: you should try from free time.”
• sixth – that he insisted on this Real. He beat Iker Casillas, Diego Lopez, Keylor Navas as well
• seven o'clock – that I'm crazy. Where is Lewandowski in this action? James Rodriguez passes to Corentin Tolisso, he crosses the ball in front of the goal, but where will Lewandowski come from? Then I remember he had a blonde episode. This is goal number 42, against Anderlecht
• eighth – that the matches during the pandemic were very sad. Empty stands, the sound of the ball being kicked, music after goals to which no one was partying. Lewandowski scored nine goals in empty stadiums
• ninth – that after scoring the 82nd goal with a roll against Dynamo Kiev, he had already scored every type of goal
• tenth – that he was never happier with any coach than with Hansi Filck. By hiring him after Xavi Hernandez, Barcelona gave Lewandowski a beautiful gift. Who knows where they will go together?
• eleventh, last – that it is unimaginable. It's good to live in Lewandowski's times