Robert Lewandowski now can target on becoming the top scorer in both the Bundesliga and the European Champions League this season, after netting home a penalty in Bayern Munich’s last domestic league match on Saturday.
The in-form Polish striker converted a spot kick in Bayern’s 4-0 rout of Wolfsburg and overwhelmed the scoring tally with 34 goals, the highest total in all the five major leagues this season up to now, according to Xinhua news agency.
Lazio’s Ciro Immobile has 28 goals, and Cristiano Ronaldo has 23 to lead Serie A, while Lionel Messi leads with 21 goals in La Liga. Jamie Vardy tops the Premier League with 19 goals, while Kylian Mbappe is on top of the already cancelled Ligue 1 at 18.
Of course, Immobile, Ronaldo, and Messi still have the chance to chase and surpass Lewandowski in the rest of their league games.
The 31-year-old Polish international has topped the Bundesliga scoring table five times, and now he gets the challenge to break Messi and Ronaldo’s dominance in Europe.
The pair have been the top scorers in the Champions League for the last 12 seasons (the only slight exception being 2014/15 when the duo shared the podium with Neymar when all three finished with ten goals). This season, Lewandowski has scored 11 in Europe’s showpiece club competition, while Messi and Ronaldo have scored two, respectively.
Erling Braut Haaland has ten under his belt in the Champions League, but Dortmund dropped out in the last 16 stage as is the case case with Tottenham’s Harry Kane at 6.
Maybe Napoli’s Dries Mertens is the man who most likely to chase Lewandowski, but the Belgian forward has to beat Barcelona first in their second leg with Spanish giants in the last 16 meeting.
Bayern has one foot into the quarterfinals after trouncing Chelsea 3-0 at home, which means Lewandowski is likely to play at least two more games.
Lewandowski has another advantage: the quarterfinals and semifinals of this season’s Champions League have been cut to one-leg as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the continent. So his competitors will have fewer games to score goals compared with before.
Lewandowski’s teammate Serge Gnabry also has an opportunity to compete for the top scorer in the Champions League with six goals. Still, Lewandowski has a better chance for his central forward position, his excellent form and firing rights in the penalties, the Poland talisman will leave little space for his pursuers.