Robert Lewandowski revealed that Barcelona did in fact request that their striker stop scoring goals.
This claim came at the end of Lewandowski’s debut campaign in Catalonia. Barcelona had mathematically sealed the 2022–23 La Liga title with a victory over local rivals Espanyol on May 14 with four matches of the campaign remaining. Already out of every other competition, Xavi Hernández’s side were free to coast towards a triumphant conclusion.
Lewandowski scored in subsequent defeats to Real Sociedad and Real Valladolid to take his personal tally up to 23 in La Liga with a pair of matches remaining. At that point, the Poland international was six goals clear in the race for the division’s top scorer award and seemed hell-bent on widening that margin. Enter Barcelona’s directors.
The club’s hierarchy called their No. 9 in for a chat, laying out to him that he would be best advised to not score again this season, as claimed by Sebastian Staszewski in his book Lewandowski. Prawdziwy (Lewandowski. The Real One) which was released in November.
Barcelona’s directors were all too aware of the clause in Lewandowski’s transfer from Bayern Munich which would have forced the Catalans to pay a €2.5 million ($2.9 million) bonus if the Pole racked up 25 league goals.
This was widely dismissed as fantasy upon the book’s release but now Lewandowski has sensationally backed up Staszewski’s claims.
Lewandowski: It Wasn’t a Small Amount
“There are things I don’t want to talk about. I have a lot of respect for Barcelona and the people who work there,” Lewandowski told Bogdan Rymanowski in an exclusive interview.
“I was aware of the club’s situation. There were many other issues that needed to be resolved for the good of the club. In short, it was a bonus, and everyone knows that at that time Barcelona was watching every euro, and it wasn’t a small amount.
“For me, it didn’t change anything. I have no problem with that, but it stuck in my mind and I wondered whether to score a goal or not.”
Lewandowski did not score across those final two matches against Mallorca and Celta Vigo despite playing all 180 available minutes. Though it wasn’t exactly for a lack of trying. The striker who had been put on a time-out took a match-high six shots against Mallorca—compared to an average of 4.3 per 90 across the previous nine months of the campaign, it would appear that Lewandowski was more eager to score than ever.
However, he only had two efforts against Celta. Across both matches, he created four chances for his teammates—a sizeable jump on the one per game he had previously averaged—and played far more passes than he typically would be expected to (34.5 compared to 24.4).
Even if he wasn’t deliberately trying to draw a blank across those final outings, his game did subconsciously change.
| Statistic | Final Two Games (per 90) | Rest of La Liga Season (per 90) |
|---|---|---|
| Total Shots | 4.0 | 4.3 |
| Shots on Target | 0.5 | 1.9 |
| Chances Created | 2.0 | 1.0 |
| Passes Attempted | 34.5 | 24.4 |
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Robert Lewandowski Confirms Wild Barcelona Reports Were True.
