Decoding Robert Lewandowski's numbers in the UEFA Champions League
What's the story
Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski has started the UEFA Champions League 2021-22 season with a bang. The Polish international has scored two successive braces to help Bayern seal 3-0 and 5-1 victories against Barcelona and Dynamo Kyiv respectively in Group E. Bayern are looking dangerous and ruthless as Lewandowski continues to march ahead. Here we decode the UCL numbers of Lewandowski.
Tally
Lewandowski is the third-highest scorer in the Champions League
Lewandowski is the third-highest scorer in Champions League history. The veteran forward has netted 77 goals in in just 98 appearances in the competition. He is only behind Cristiano Ronaldo (136) and Lionel Messi (121). After scoring 17 goals for former club Borussia Dortmund, Lewandowski has netted 60 Champions League goals for Bayern Munich. His 60 goals have come in just 70 matches.
Feat
Joint-fourth most UEFA Champions League goals for one club
Lewandowski has the joint-fourth most UCL goals for one club in the competition. His 60 for Bayern sees him tied alongside fellow elite star Karim Benzema (Real Madrid). Both Lewandowski and Benzema are behind Messi (120 for Barcelona), Ronaldo (105 for Real Madrid), and Raul (66 for Real Madrid).
Record
Four goals in a match
Lewandowski scored four goals for Borussia Dortmund against Real Madrid in the Champions League 2012-13 semis. He is one of the few players to net four times in a match from the quarter-finals stage onwards in the UCL alongside Messi, Sandor Kocsis, Ferenc Puskas, and Alfredo Di Stefano. He also scored four times against Red Star Belgrade in the UCL 2019-20 group stage.
Do you know?
Lewandowski has finished as UCL's top scorer on one occasion
Lewandowski netted 15 goals in the Champions League 2019-20 season to be the top scorer that season and help Bayern win the title. He also ended with the joint-highest assists (6) alongside PSG's Angel Di Maria that season.
New record
A new UCL record for Lewandowski
As per Opta, Lewandowski scripted Champions League history after stretching his winning run for Bayern Munich in European competition to 18 games. He achieved the mark in Bayern's Dynamo Kyiv earlier this week. Notably, Lewandowski had missed the quarter-final tie against PSG last season which saw Bayern get eliminated. The last team to beat Bayern when Lewandowski was present were Liverpool in March 2019.
Information
Unique record held by Lewandowski
Lewandowski holds the record alongside Ronaldo and Thierry Henry for scoring in seven successive Champions League home matches. He netted 10 goals in this run with Ronaldo scoring 13 and Henry registering nine.