Robert Lewandowski is going through a rather unusual period for him. The Barcelona superstar failed to score again on Tuesday against Shakhtar Donetsk (1-0 defeat), marking six consecutive games without a goal. The last time this happened to Lewandowski was nearly thirteen years ago.
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Barcelona signed the 35-year-old Lewandowski last year from Bayern Munich, and the Pole played a key role in winning the Spanish league title. He played in 34 of the 38 matches (missing three games due to suspension) and became the league's top scorer with 23 goals. Lewandowski also helped Barcelona secure the Super Copa with important goals.
However, more recently, things have been tougher. Lewandowski missed three matches in October due to an ankle injury, but he has been fit for a while now and participated in Barcelona's last three matches. Yet, he didn't score in any of them. Even in the three matches before his injury, Lewandowski failed to find the net.
For Lewandowski, such a lengthy dry spell feels quite strange. His current run is his worst since the 2010/11 season when he went ten consecutive games without scoring for Borussia Dortmund between December 2010 and February 2011, which was his first season in Germany. After this period, Lewandowski was consistently a guarantee for goals.
The Catalan media are giving considerable attention to Lewandowski's goalless streak. SPORT notes that Barcelona performs less well with the striker in the team than without him. Lewandowski made his comeback as a substitute in El Clásico, entering the game at a 1-0 lead, but Barcelona ended up losing 2-1. Against Real Sociedad, Lewandowski was substituted off after an hour, and then Ronald Araújo became the match-winner in injury time (1-0). And on Tuesday, Lewandowski played ninety minutes in the 1-0 loss to Shakhtar.
SPORT believes that Barcelona did well when Lewandowski was out with an ankle injury. Barcelona fought back from a 2-0 deficit at Granada (2-2), and they could have won if a seemingly valid goal from João Félix hadn't been disallowed, and thanks to a dream debut from Marc Guiu, they defeated Athletic Bilbao: 1-0. Later, Shakhtar was also defeated: 2-1.
Last season, Lewandowski was absent for seven of Barcelona's games: four in the league, two in the cup tournament, and one in the Champions League. Barcelona won all seven of these matches. It tends towards sensationalist sports journalism, but SPORT concludes that Lewandowski is at least not indispensable for Barcelona. The newspaper points out that Ferran Torres can also fill the striker position well and that Xavi has gained an interesting option with Guiu. This sparks the discussion about whether Lewandowski is still the best candidate for the striker position.
This coming Sunday, Alavés will travel to Barcelona. In this match, Lewandowski hopes to end his goalless streak and, at least for the time being, put a stop to this discussion.
Updated: 10:49, 8 Nov 2023
