Joan Laporta signed Robert Lewandowski with the aim of increasing and strengthening Barcelona’s competitiveness, especially in Europe, and helping Xavi build a winning team. The Polish footballer is showing an exceptional level of play in LaLiga Santander, where he is currently the top scorer, but he hasn’t played any role in continental competitions and the Catalan side have paid dearly for him.
The former Bayern Munich player has scored six goals in European competition: five in the Champions League and one in the Europa League. However, none of these blows were decisive. His goals didn’t help Barcelona beat top opponents.
Barcelona beat Viktoria Plzeň 5-1 thanks to a hat-trick from Lewandowski, but they’re not the kind of opponent who should count goals. In a match with Inter, he scored a brace, but the score was a 3:3 draw, and as a result, the Blue Garnets almost flew out of the Champions League.
His penalty against Manchester United didn’t help the team survive in the Europa League as the Catalans’ continental campaign came to an abrupt end in February.
Last summer, Barcelona reached an agreement with Bayern for 45 million euros, plus another five million in bonuses. He was an important sign for the team this season and the centre-forward was seen as a necessary asset to be able to challenge for the continental title.
The Pole was Joan Laporta’s big hope, as well as Xavi. But it wasn’t enough. Its contribution in Europe does not have the same significance as in Spain.
In total, Lewandowski has scored a remarkable 25 goals this season, most of them in La Liga, where he is one of the top scorers with 15 goals, but his overall performance has suffered lately.
He has scored just twice in the last six games, last Thursday against Manchester United at Old Trafford and against Cadiz at Camp Nou.
However, Xavi is happy with his game even though he also finds himself in a bad patch.
“Robert was amazing, and now he’s maybe a bit out of shape, but he’s still not bad. Maybe he needs to be used more,” Xavi said.
Barcelona have said goodbye to the chance to win a European title, but the Catalans will look to Lewandowski to fight for the two remaining trophies to play for: Copa del Rey and La Liga Santander.
The treble is still possible: after winning the Spanish Super Cup, the Catalans have reached the semi-finals of the Cup and are 7 points ahead of Real Madrid in La Liga.
<!–
Подпишитесь на Athletistic:
–>
Source: Sport
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
