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Appreciating Robert Lewandowski’s sensational goalscoring record since 2015

Robert Lewandowski continues to set the standard for goalscorers, with the Bayern Munich forward in the midst of another prolific campaign for the Bundesliga champions.

Lewandowski moved past 40 goals for the season last month and has overtaken Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as the best out-and-out goalscorer in world football, having reached that total for a seventh successive season at Bayern.

Once again leading the goal standings in both the Bundesliga and Champions League in 2021/22, the Poland international will hope his goals can fire the Bavarians to silverware this season.

 

In tribute to a goalscoring genius, we look at Lewandowski’s sensational goal record since the 2015/16  season.

2015/16 – 42 goals

Lewandowski was already regarded as one of Europe’s finest finishers before the 2015/16 season, but his first 40+ goal campaign was the first step on a path to genuine greatness.

Lewandowski’s haul included a stunning five-goal blitz inside just nine minutes against Wolfsburg, coming off the bench to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 5-1 win for Bayern.

His five goals came in just 8 minutes and 59 seconds, setting new Bundesliga records for the fastest five-goal haul, fastest hat-trick (three goals in four minutes), and most goals scored by a substitute.

Lewandowski ended the season as the Bundesliga’s leading scorer for a second time in three seasons, whilst he became the first foreign player to score 30 goals in a Bundesliga season and the first since FC Köln’s Dieter Müller in 1976–77.

2016/17 – 43 goals

Lewandowski improved on his career-best return the following season with 43 goals in all competitions, opening the campaign with consecutive hat-tricks against FC Carl Zeiss Jena in the DFB-Pokal and Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga.

He reached 30 goals in the league for a second successive season, but finished as runner-up in the Bundesliga goal charts to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (31).

His 43 goals came in just 47 appearances across all competitions for Bayern, who ended the season as Bundesliga champions for the fifth season in a row.

2017/18 – 41 goals

2017/18 brought a third leading scorer accolade in the Bundesliga to Lewandowski, moving level with Ulf Kirsten and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in joint-second for the most ever Torjägerkanone awards.

He scored 29 goals in the Bundesliga – almost double the 15 goals of runner-up Nils Petersen in the Bundesliga charts – and 41 in all competitions, with his season including a run of 11 consecutive home games scored in.

2018/19 – 40 goals

Lewandowski reached 40 goals in all competitions four the fourth consecutive campaign in 2018/19, finishing as the league’s leading scorer once again despite a drop in output.

He scored 22 goals in the Bundesliga as Bayern edged Borussia Dortmund in a tight title race, finishing just two points clear of his former side in the final standings.

Lewandowski also reached 50 Champions League goals during the campaign, becoming the third-fastest footballer, after Lionel Messi and Ruud van Nistelrooy, to reach the landmark.

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The Poland international ended the season with a brace as Bayern beat RB Leipzig in the DFB-Pokal final to complete a domestic double, becoming the all-time leading scorer in German Cup finals in the process.

He also broke Claudio Pizarro’s record for the most Bundesliga goals by a foreign player after netting his 196th goal in Germany’s top flight against Wolfsburg.

2019/20 – 55 goals

Lewandowski reached new levels during an iconic 2019/20 campaign, one that saw the forward set new career-best standards and end the season with a cabinet packed full of silverware.

He scored 55 goals in all competitions as Bayern conquered all before them, winning the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League and ending the year named as The Best FIFA Men’s Player.

Lewandowski started the season spectacularly with 10 goals in his opening six league games and set a new Bundesliga record after netting in 11 consecutive fixtures from the start of the campaign.

He was equally prolific in Europe, scoring in each of the fixtures he featured in as Bayern Munich progressed to a Champions League final meeting with Paris Saint-Germain.

He became just the second player to win a treble of major trophies and finish as the leading scorer in each competition, matching the achievement of Joahn Cruyff for Ajax in 1971/72.

2020/21 – 48 goals

The trophies continued in another record-breaking campaign for Lewandowski in 2020/21, as Bayern added the UEFA Super Cup, German Super Cup and Club World Cup to make it a sextuple of silverware in 2020.

Lewandowski also added further to his extensive collection of individual honours during a season of stunning prolificacy, breaking Gerd Muller’s all-time record for goals in a Bundesliga season.

Lewandowski began the campaign with 10 goals in just five games – including all four in a 4-3 win over Hertha Berlin – and failed to stop scoring, ending the season with a mind-boggling 41 league goals from just 29 games.

He broke Muller’s record in the 91st-minute on the final day of the season against Augsburg, completing a breathtaking season of productivity around goal.

His haul also won Lewandowski the European Golden Shoe, earning the accolade for the first time in his career.

2021/22 – 45 goals*

It’s now 45 goals and counting for Lewandowski who will have his sights set on a new career-best haul this season, the 33-year-old having shown few signs of slowing down in 2021/22.

Lewandowski is the leading scorer in the Bundesliga and has reached 30+ league goals for a third consecutive campaign, whilst he also leads the charts in the Champions League after netting 12 goals from eight appearances.

He scored the earliest ever Champions League hat-trick after netting a treble inside just 23 minutes against Red Bull Salzburg last month and is fast closing in on joining Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi on 100+ goals in Europe’s top competition.

Lewandowski has managed a goal every 99 minutes during his Bundesliga career to date and is now just 58 goals from surpassing Gerd Muller as the division’s all-time leading scorer.

Read – Iconic Performances: Messi’s four-goal demolition of Arsenal at the Camp Nou

Read Also – Iconic Duos: Robben and Ribery – The wing wizards who defined a decade

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