Patience in rebuilding
17 goals in 12 LaLiga games, five goals in five games in Europe’s “premier class”: From a sporting point of view, Robert Lewandowski has long since arrived at FC Barcelona – in an interview with the Spanish newspaper “La VanguardiaThe 34-year-old spoke about his adjustment period and the bitter end of the Champions League and explains what the Catalans still lack compared to FC Bayern in order to be able to attack at the top again at international level.
“I’m in the right place here. I knew in advance that the first season wasn’t going to be easy. It was a big challenge for me, but sometimes you have to leave your comfort zone and face new challenges. I’m glad I took this step. I can feel the support from the first moment,” said the Pole, who recently broke the 600 goal mark. Among the active players, only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were able to do that – in the top European leagues only Manchester City’s Erling Haaland has a better goal quota this season.
With regard to the most recent setback at international level, the attacker, who last missed out on a place in the Champions League round of 16 in the 2011/12 season in the service of BVB, urged “more patience”: “Of course I’m not happy, Barça should be in the round of 16. But even before I came to Barcelona, I was aware that the first season could be more difficult than it probably should be. We are in a rebuilding process that will take time.”
The table-2. Despite significant financial bottlenecks and based on a sophisticated system, the Spanish LaLiga had invested around 153 million euros in transfers in the squad in the summer. With a price tag of 45 million euros, Lewandowski was Barça’s third most expensive summer signing (at a glance), only five clubs worldwide spent more money – all from the English Premier League.
Lewandowski at FC Barcelona: “Setbacks make us grow”
What Barcelona still lacks compared to their former club from Munich in order to be able to build on their old successes again in Europe – the last Champions League title was seven years ago – are serenity and stability: “Bavaria has been incredibly stable for years . They may not play well because they weren’t much better than us against us in Munich, for example, but they win. Barcelona need that stability, but it’s not easy to create. (…) I am sure that these setbacks will allow us to grow as a team and that everything will be different next season. I’m sure it will. We keep developing. I didn’t expect that I would arrive and that everything would go well in the first season.”
While the right footer emphasizes that he had no difficulties adjusting after his move within the team (“It’s a group of players with enormous potential, but they are also great people.”) He dismissed speculation that he had said goodbye to Bayern primarily to improve his chances of winning the Ballon d’Or, in an interview with the Spanish newspaper:
“That’s a lie. It’s an award, but I don’t think about it every day. The Ballon d’Or is not my obsession. I have achieved everything I set out to achieve and I carry it in my heart.”
Most valuable players LaLiga: Dembélé overtakes Lewandowski in top-30
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