Robert Lewandowski: A Bayern Munich and Bundesliga legend
Robert Lewandowski scored 344 goals in 375 games for Bayern Munich, his summer 2022 move to Barcelona bringing down the curtain on one of the greatest careers the Bundesliga has ever seen.
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"Robert Lewandowski has done great things for FC Bayern," said then sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic when the move was confirmed. "We spoke at length with our colleagues from Barcelona and clarified the details. We wish him every success at his new club."
"It's good for both sides that we have clarity," added club president Herbert Hainer. "Robert has earned our appreciation - he has won everything with us. We are incredibly grateful to him."
Lewandowski enjoyed a record-breaking 12 years in German football, which started back in 2010 when he joined Borussia Dortmund and won back-to-back Bundesliga titles under Jürgen Klopp.
After settling in with what would become a meagre eight goals in his first campaign, the Polish striker's numbers exploded with hauls of 22, 24 and 20 before his move to Bayern. Lewandowski then took his game to another level in Munich, with season tallies of 17, 30, 30, 29, 22, 34, 41 and 35 leaving him on 312 goals from 384 appearances.
It places him second on the Bundesliga's all-time scoring chart, 53 short of the record held by Gerd Müller, but he departs with plenty of his own.
Watch: All 312 of Robert Lewandowski’s Bundesliga goals
The highlights include the most goals in a single Bundesliga season (41 in 2020/21), seven Torjägerkanone (a record shared with Müller), an unprecedented five consecutive top scorer crowns, the most goals by a non-German in the league’s history, 10 Meisterschale (the most earned by a player at more than one club), and four Guinness World Records.
The latter achievement was a result of his famous five-goal haul from the bench in nine minutes against Wolfsburg in 2015. He also got four goals in a game once, 13 hat-tricks and 63 braces, appearing on a Bundesliga scoresheet in a total of 213 matches.
Incredible levels of fitness and commitment to nutrition, rest and recovery saw Lewandowski miss only 24 of a possible 408 league fixtures during his time in Germany, where he also lifted the DFB Cup four times and led Bayern to their second treble as top scorer in the league, cup and UEFA Champions League in 2019/20 before going on to complete a historic sextuple.
Watch: Lewandowski's top moments and skills
Those exploits saw the second-highest goalscorer in over 120 years of Bayern history named the Best FIFA Men’s Player in both 2020 and 2021, as well as the Gerd Müller award as the world's best striker.
"I want to say thank you to my ex team-mates of Bayern Munich because I know how hard they have to work," he said after receiving the Gerd Müller prize on 17 October 2022.
Lewandowski departed as an undisputed Bundesliga and Bayern legend, placed front and centre in the pantheon of German footballing greats with a legacy that will no doubt last an eternity.
Danke, Robert!
