Bundesliga: Robert Lewandowski breaks Gerd Muller's 49-year-old record
Star striker Robert Lewandowski has eclipsed a 49-year-old record of legend Gerd Muller in the Bundesliga. Lewandowski scored his 41st goal of the season in a 5-2 win over Augsburg on Saturday, the most in a Bundesliga season. Notably, Muller had scored 40 goals for Bayern in 1971/72. Earlier, Lewandowski became only the second man to reach the 40-goal mark in a single season.
"I have to say I never dreamed about breaking this record, to score more than 40 goals because I thought that it's impossible," Lewandowski told Bundesliga.com after scoring in the final minute against Augsburg. He added, "That is something special, something historic. I still don't believe it, but maybe tomorrow, maybe even one or two weeks later, I'll understand what I did."
Lewandowski finished the 2020/21 season with 41 goals, most in a single season. The previous record was held by Muller (40). Notably, he scored 13 more goals than the next-best Andre Silva (28), this season. The former is already second on the list of all-time scorers in the Bundesliga (277 goals). He is only behind Muller, who amassed 365 Bundesliga goals in his career.
Lewandowski is the first player in the history of Bundesliga to become the top-scorer in four consecutive seasons. He scored 34, 22, and 29 goals in the last three seasons (2019/20, 2018/19, and 2017/18). In the recently-concluded season, Lewandowski failed to score in only four of the 27 league matches he started for Bayern. He scored three or more goals on five occasions.
Lewandowski joined Bayern in 2014/15 after playing four seasons for Borussia Dortmund. He has already surpassed the 200-goal mark for Bayern (203) in the Bundesliga (scored 74 for Dortmund). Till now, he has tallied 294 goals for Bayern across all competitions (career total of 484).
Bayern had already secured their record-extending ninth consecutive Bundesliga title before the final matchday. They finished the season with 78 points from 34 games. During the season, Bayern won 24, drew six, and lost only four matches. They scored as many as 99 goals, and conceded 44. Their 5-2 victory over Augsburg was the cherry on the cake.
