Robert Lewandowski is on the verge of breaking Gerd Müller’s long-standing record of scoring 40 goals in one Bundesliga season (1971/1972). Lewandowski only needs two goals from the remaining two match days against SC Freiburg and FC Augsburg for Bayern Munich to break the record.
Lewandowski has already scored against both clubs in the respective First round fixtures.
In the most recent issue of Bayern’s “51” club magazine, Mario Gomez, who spent three seasons at the club, spoke of his great admiration for Lewandowski and said he thinks he is “the most complete striker in the world.”
“We strikers always want to score a goal. That’s just the way we were born. For us, there’s no greater feeling on the pitch than scoring a goal. I had that feeling as a little kid when I was playing, and later in training and in games. And I think it’s similar with Lewy. He’s a striker through and through,” Gomez said of the Polish ace.
Gomez went on to say that he recently had the chance to speak with him face-to-face. Gomez compared Bayern’s #9 to a fine wine, aging as well as both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
“When I met him by chance recently, I said to him: ’You’re one of those exceptional players who age like fine wine. Like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimović,” he described.
Lewandowski recently hinted at a potential contract extension at Bayern and in the same breath had said that he could picture himself playing at the highest level for at least another four or five years. Gomez echoed that sentiment, admiring just how much Lewandowski has mastered his craft in every department of play: “I trust him to continue playing at this level for another four or five years. It wasn’t like that for me in my mid-30s. I was a striker who lived on my dynamism, on the first few yards of pace, on power. Lewy is completely different. He has everything in his repertoire. He’s not just a sprinter, he’s the most complete striker in the world. It’s crazy how easy he makes scoring goals look. I was at Bayern for four years myself and know how hard it is in reality.”
Photo by Alexander Scheuber/Bundesliga/Bundesliga Collection via Getty Images
Considering the fact that Lewandowski missed four weeks of play due to his knee injury, it makes it even more incredible that he’s so close to breaking Müller’s Bundesliga scoring record. 39 goals in one season at this level having missed so much time is absolutely sensational, and he’s got two more matches to add to his tally. Gomez is just as impressed as the rest of us in terms of what Lewandowski has accomplished this season; “The fact that he is chipping away at Gerd Müller’s record in a season without much of a pre-season and under extreme strain is quite remarkable. It shows that he is a consummate professional with an incredible understanding of his own body. I expected the 40-goal mark to fall at some point. Bayern have dominated the Bundesliga for years, just like Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain — and there Messi has scored 50 goals in a season, Ronaldo 48. I wish Lewy many more goals, because you can’t replace that feeling with anything.”
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