Robert Lewandowski: "I know Miroslav Klose can help me"
Robert Lewandowski may be leading the scoring charts with 25 goals, but ahead of the Bundesliga restart, the prolific Pole is getting excited at the prospect of learning yet more from new Bayern Munich assistant coach Miroslav Klose.
Lewandowski's collection of records runs almost as deep as the silverware he struggles to pack into his glittering trophy cabinet. A five-time Bundesliga champion with four top-scorer cannons (Torjägerkanonen), Lewandowski also has the most Bundesliga goals all-time among active players with 221.
The Poland captain shot to prominence with Borussia Dortmund under Jürgen Klopp, and once scored four goals in one game against Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League. He went one better for Bayern a few years later, hitting five goals in just nine minutes in a 5-1 win over Wolfsburg.
It would be fair to say Lewy has very little left to prove, but now, fully fit for the Bundesliga restart, he is licking his lips at the prospect of further honing his craft with Klose - another legendary striker who scored 53 goals in 150 games with Bayern as well as an international-record 16 FIFA World Cup goals in his Germany career.
"He was a great player and I know that he can help us with his experience and skills," Lewandowski said of the 41-year-old, who was actually born in Opole, less than 200 miles southwest of Lewandowski's native Warsaw. "You can learn something new from every coach to become a better player. I want that from him too."
With so many career peaks to choose from, it is the incredible Wolfsburg goal-haul which is most firmly wedged in Lewandowski's memory. Between minutes 51 and 60 on that fateful September 2015 evening, Lewandowski secured the fastest ever three-, four- and five-goal salvos as well as becoming the highest-scoring substitute ever.
Watch: Lewandowski's FIVE goals in NINE minutes in FULL!
"I would say the game in which I scored five goals in nine minutes against Wolfsburg," Lewandowski said when pressed on his best ever game. "That was special; it was actually impossible. I could never have dreamed of it and I'll remember it until my last day."
Also, perhaps, the fittest man in world football, Lewandowski had previously never missed more than two consecutive games since arriving in Germany in 2010 until suffering a knee injury in Bayern's 3-0 win over Chelsea in the Champions League in February.
Originally slated to miss a full month of games, the coronavirus-enforced break in play has at lest had one silver lining for Lewandowski.
"I feel better than ever because I was able to work on my physical fitness even more specifically than usual over the last two months," he concluded. Union Berlin this Sunday - and every other defence in the Bundesliga beyond that - have been warned.
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