Robert Lewandowski wheels away after netting his 19th goal of the season against Hoffenheim on Matchday 20. - © © gettyimages / Matthias Hangst
Robert Lewandowski wheels away after netting his 19th goal of the season against Hoffenheim on Matchday 20. - © © gettyimages / Matthias Hangst

Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski hits a perfect ten to underscore status as one of the world’s best

xwhatsappmailcopy-link

“He scores when he wants, he scores when he wants, Robert Lewandowski - he scores when he wants!”

Is there any containing the Bayern Munich striker? Well apparently not at the Allianz Arena, where the Pole made history on Saturday by scoring for the tenth home game in a row this season.

From the season’s opener against Leverkusen on 18 August to Matchday 20's 5-2 win over Hoffenheim, not a single team has managed to stop Lewandowski finding the net in Munich. Indeed, only three clubs – Hamburg, Frankfurt and Stuttgart – have not conceded to the 29-year-old this season, but with all those teams to come, it is largely a question of when and not if the Pole can breach their defences.

Some illustrious names in the Bundesliga history have managed a similar feat before Lewandowski. Gerd Müller scored in ten in row midway through the 1969/70 season, while Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes notched in 11 in successive home matches for Borussia Mönchengladbach at the start of 1972/73 (also scoring in the final home match of the previous campaign).

Lewandowski’s voracious appetite for scoring means he has become the first Bayern player to begin a campaign by scoring in the first ten games on home soil, and he can equal Heynckes’ record when the Reds host Schalke in a fortnight’s time. His record against the Royal Blues? Twelve goals in 17 games, including five in his last four.

Watch: 60 seconds under pressure: Lewandowski

The former Borussia Dortmund man has 18 goals in total in the league and is well clear at the top of the scorers’ chart, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang next on 13. Nevertheless, Lewandowski is not allowing any complacency to creep into his game, especially after his side had to come from 2-0 down to beat Hoffenheim.

“We always need to be thinking about what we can do better,” he said. “In the first 20 minutes they gave us some real problems, and if we’d carried on playing like that, Hoffenheim could have scored more.” After the initial shock of falling two goals behind, up popped Lewandowski to set Bayern on their way by deflecting Joshua Kimmich’s shot in for 1-2, with “Lewy” assisting Kingsley Coman to make it 3-2 in the second half.

Watch: All 15 of Lewandowski's Hinrunde goals

At full time, Heynckes made mention of his “enormous quality”, whilst team-mate Niklas Süle outlined in more detail what sets the Reds' no.9 apart. “As a striker, he can do absolutely everything. He can finish with his head, his right foot and his left foot – it’s incredibly difficult to play against him. Lewy on top form is one of the best strikers in the world.”

His stats stand up to those of all the leading strikers in Europe’s other top four divisions, in league football he has a better goals-to-games ratio (86 minutes per goal) than Lionel Messi (93) and Harry Kane (95) this term and is he well on the way to his third Torjägerkanone. Süle is certainly not wrong.

Bernie Reeves

Click here for more Bayern Munich news and features!