By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Robert Lewandowski’s goal against SC Freiburg on Matchday 33 took his tally for the season to 40 goals, equalling German football legend Gerd Müller’s record, set during FC Bayern München’s 1971- 72 campaign.
To celebrate this incredible achievement, we have highlighted some of Lewandowski’s most memorable moments during his Bundesliga career so far.
First Bundesliga goal: In June 2010, Lewandowski made the switch to the German top flight, joining Borussia Dortmund from Lech Poznań in his native Poland. On Matchday 4 of the 2010-11 season, Lewandowski scored his first Bundesliga goal, as part of a 3-0 Revierderby win away at rivals FC Schalke 04.
First Bundesliga title: On Matchday 32 of the same 2010-11 season, Lewandowski celebrated his first Bundesliga title with Borussia Dortmund after a 2-0 win against 1. FC Nürnberg.
First hat-trick: On Matchday 8 of the 2011-12 season, Lewandowski scored more than one goal in a Bundesliga match for the first time, bagging a hat-trick in a 4-0 win over FC Augsburg.
First top scorer in the Bundesliga: On the final Matchday of the 2013-14 season, Lewandowski scored his 19th and 20th goals of the season against Hertha Berlin. He was crowned Bundesliga top scorer for the first time, in his last Bundesliga game for Borussia Dortmund.
Lewandowski’s career milestones Fastest hat-trick/four-goal-haul/five-goal-haul in Bundesliga history: On Matchday 6 of the 2015-16 season, Lewandowski came on as a substitute for FC Bayern in the second half against VfL Wolfsburg. At 1-0 down, he scored five goals between the 51st -60th minute. This was the fastest five-goal haul in Bundesliga history (8 minutes, 59 seconds), the first by a substitute, and incidentally, the fastest uninterrupted hat-trick (51st-55th minute) and the fastest four-goal haul (51st-57th minute) in Bundesliga history.
First 50 goals for FC Bayern München: On the opening Matchday of the 2016-17 season, Lewandowski scored his 48, 49 and 50 Bundesliga goals for Bayern in 6-0 win against Werder Bremen. He reached this mark after only 64 games for the championship record breakers. Never has a player scored 50 Bundesliga goals for a club so quickly.
Most successful international scorer in Bundesliga history: On Matchday 25 of the 2018-19 season, Lewandowski scored his 196th and 197th Bundesliga goals in a 6-0 win against VfL Wolfsburg, overtaking former team-mate Claudio Pizarro. Lewandowski made it to 200 in Der Klassiker shortly after, scoring the first of two goals as Bayern beat Borussia Dortmund 5-0,
First player to win the treble and to be the top scorer in all competitions in one season: On 23 August 2020, Lewandowski won the UEFA Champions League with FC Bayern München to complete a European treble and historic season. At the same time, Lewandowski became the first player to win the treble and finish as top scorer in all three competitions. He scored 34 times in the Bundesliga, 15 times in the UEFA Champions League and six times in the DFB Cup.
European Footballer of the Year and Best FIFA Men’s Player: In 2020, Lewandowski was named European Footballer of the Year and Best FIFA Men’s Player. He was the first active Bundesliga player to win this award.
This Season so far:
• There are currently 6 teams that have scored less goals than Lewandowski this year.
• Lewandowski recorded five hat-tricks this season, one of which saw him score 4 goals (v Hertha Berlin in Matchday 3).
• He currently records a total of 202 league goals for Bayern Munich in 218 games (with 74 league goals at his previous station in 131 games for Borussia Dortmund).
• For six consecutive seasons in a row, Robert Lewandowski has passed the 20-goal mark. He also did it in three of his four seasons at Dortmund.
• On Matchday 26 of the current 2020-21 season, with his hat-trick in Bayern Munich’s 4-0 win against VfB Stuttgart, Lewandowski overtook Klaus Fischer (268) to take second place in the all-time Bundesliga goalscoring list. He now has 40 goals this season and a total of 276 career-Bundesliga goals. The only man with more Bundesliga goals is Müller, with 365. Can Lewandowski make yet more history in the seasons to come?