9 - Robert Lewandowski

[TemporaryFan]

Unlike Bundesliga, La Liga is still a big deal. So is the Premiership and Serie A.
It would not be too daring to say that it is even more important than anything else from the point of view of daily bread earning - the point of view of the basic sport achievements at the club level. Would it be not true to say that clubs exist first and foremost to win the championship of their league and anything else is an afterthought?!

Money and glamour is what makes CL sexy but let's face it, there is a lot of sheer fortune factors once you get to the quarterfinal stages of the competition. The overall outcome of CL does not necessarily reflect the sport status of the club. It is the consistency of being the league leader that underlies the foundation on which the CL can be pursued, not the other way around.
Therefore, I am somewhat surprised that this early CL exit created the gloom and doom mood which so unfairly overshadowed the reality that the current club's visible progress is still onging - nonetheless, still the process of breaking in.

 

[TemporaryFan]

I must have watched every single game of Bayern between 2014-2022 and while the Lewandowski's role of being the main focal point of the attacking strategy was indisputable, it is important to stress that he was not the only one at Bayern to deliver goals. I should emphasize the season in which Bayern won the triple crown. Lewandowski was not the main scorer that demolished Tottenham in the group stages, then against Chelsea and then in the knockout tournament in Lisbon - there Lewandowski did not score a single crucial goal. They had Gnabry, Muller, Comman, Kimich, Goreatzka - all capable to relieve Lewandowski from the duty of finding goals when the defenses of opposing teams were all too focused on him. Yet, it did not prevent him from being the main, and only contender to win Ballondor - had it been available - for his assists and otherwise contribution in the build up play were of utmost importance to Bayern's ultimate success. Other Barca players must start scoring too - as simple as that. The sooner, the better.

 

[iniestaGOAT]

Not for his disasterclasses against Bayern and Inter in CL.

He came out looking okay after padding two goals.

Absolutely deserves the balondor if he carries this geam to title.


We need to make it happen. Let's goooo

 

[odrzut]

I should emphasize the season in which Bayern won the triple crown. Lewandowski was not the main scorer that demolished Tottenham in the group stages, then against Chelsea and then in the knockout tournament in Lisbon - there Lewandowski did not score a single crucial goal.

Lewandowski scored or assisted all 7 goals against Chelsea over both legs. He only had 2 against Totenham, true (and he didn't played at home). In the knockouts he scored AND assisted in each game except for the 1-0 final against PSG.

Overall he scored 15 and assisted 6 in 14 UCL games that season. Bayern scored 43 goals in 15 games and Lewandowski participated in 21 (49%) of them. If you discount the 3 goals when he didn't play - it was 21/40 (52%).

I'd say it wasn't that far off to Barcelona in La Liga right now - he scored 13 and assisted 4 over 12 La Liga games. That's participation in 17 out of 29 goals scored by Barcelona (about 58%).

They had Gnabry, Muller, Comman, Kimich, Goreatzka - all capable to relieve Lewandowski from the duty of finding goals when the defenses of opposing teams were all too focused on him. Yet, it did not prevent him from being the main, and only contender to win Ballondor - had it been available - for his assists and otherwise contribution in the build up play were of utmost importance to Bayern's ultimate success. Other Barca players must start scoring too - as simple as that. The sooner, the better.

Of course it would be better. But the main problem is tactics, not who scores. Lewandowski always had somebody to pass to in the penalty box. And there were like 10 good crosses a game (this is a big difference - in Bayern Lewandowski scored significant percentage of his goals with headers, almost no headers in Barcelona).

 

[JohnN]

In theory he should be able to play off fati of Ferran playing like second strikers. But both miss so many chances he ends up having all the burden of scoring on him. Just like with Messi (he was also tasked with crating too of course) we can't rely on one player for our scoring.

 

[malvolio]

Unlike Bundesliga, La Liga is still a big deal. So is the Premiership and Serie A.
It would not be too daring to say that it is even more important than anything else from the point of view of daily bread earning - the point of view of the basic sport achievements at the club level. Would it be not true to say that clubs exist first and foremost to win the championship of their league and anything else is an afterthought?!

Money and glamour is what makes CL sexy but let's face it, there is a lot of sheer fortune factors once you get to the quarterfinal stages of the competition. The overall outcome of CL does not necessarily reflect the sport status of the club. It is the consistency of being the league leader that underlies the foundation on which the CL can be pursued, not the other way around.
Therefore, I am somewhat surprised that this early CL exit created the gloom and doom mood which so unfairly overshadowed the reality that the current club's visible progress is still onging - nonetheless, still the process of breaking in.

Teams of Barca's stature don't that go out of the CL groups and then win leagues. Has it ever happened before? Of course, the reverse is true as CL is more of a lottery when you basically play 6 games to reach a final.

So that's why the CL exit created doom and gloom mood. After all this CL format is basically geared towards elite teams getting trough groups.

 

[Barcilliant]

Unlike Bundesliga, La Liga is still a big deal. So is the Premiership and Serie A.
It would not be too daring to say that it is even more important than anything else from the point of view of daily bread earning - the point of view of the basic sport achievements at the club level. Would it be not true to say that clubs exist first and foremost to win the championship of their league and anything else is an afterthought?!

Money and glamour is what makes CL sexy but let's face it, there is a lot of sheer fortune factors once you get to the quarterfinal stages of the competition. The overall outcome of CL does not necessarily reflect the sport status of the club. It is the consistency of being the league leader that underlies the foundation on which the CL can be pursued, not the other way around.
Therefore, I am somewhat surprised that this early CL exit created the gloom and doom mood which so unfairly overshadowed the reality that the current club's visible progress is still onging - nonetheless, still the process of breaking in.

Lmao 😆. La liga is a big deal?!!!!
You are either a Xavi fan or stuck in 2016.
La liga SUCKS! Behind B'liga,Serie A, EPL and even French league.
La liga is currently THE farmers league.

 

[Blackened]

La Liga is indeed in the shitter as of today. All sides bar Real out of the CL and Real winning it last season was a major fluke, the biggest upset since Chelsea 2012. They got completely outplayed by PSG, Chelsea, City and Liverpool but they had the most outrageous amount of luck on their side + great invidual performances now and a then by Benz, Modric and Courtois. But make no mistake about it... They are not a great team. They were not that good last season and they are not great now. An old team, still dinosaurs (Benz, Kroos, Modric, Carvahal) from their glory era + B-level young talent. This may sound weird but I dont consider either Rodrygo or Vinicius as world-class talent. Not current or in the future. No, Real Madrid squad isnt great and wont be great in a while. Barca, Atleti and co are mediocre. La Liga is indeed in a downward spiral.

 

[Porque]

LaLiga is shit right now, but Atleti and Barca are out of the CL because of Atleti and Barcelona.

Sevilla on the otherhand are totally crap this season and have had a severe drop in quality.

 

[Temptation]

Injured. Back pain.

 

[Andresito]

Injured. Back pain.

Just rested. Will be back for Almeria.

 

[CatalinR10]

Absolutely deserves the balondor if he carries this geam to title.

He needs to win La Liga + Europa League while being top scorer in La Liga and best player in Spain AND hope that :


-Argentina/France/Brazil doesn't win the World Cup

-City/PSG/Real Madrid doesn't win the CL.

If those teams don't win CL/World Cup , I can see Lewa winning it.

 

[Birdy]

So that's why the CL exit created doom and gloom mood. After all this CL format is basically geared towards elite teams getting trough groups.

Not after the shitty reforms of Platini and the rest, where you see teams like Zenit or Porto in the 1st pot together with the giants.
It's after that reform that more 'groups of death' have appeared, which makes group phase more interesting, but also totally unfair and unbalanced, with groups of death side by side with joke groups (like RM's this season)

 

[JamDav1982]

There are no 'Groups of Death'.

The better teams have qualified easily as they always do more or less.

Barca could have been in Pot 1 if they didnt fuck up a fairly 'easy' Europa League against Frankfurt.

 

[TemporaryFan]

Lmao ��. La liga is a big deal?!!!!
You are either a Xavi fan or stuck in 2016.
La liga SUCKS! Behind B'liga,Serie A, EPL and even French league.
La liga is currently THE farmers league.

Leagues aggregate performances are like business cycles, subjected to up and down motions of pendulum. Everlasting subject to change...
For years, I heard that Bundesliga was a one horse race - which it was, and then that Serie A was almost unwatchable - it was for some time, if you ask me. Premiership?! Whenever, there is none of their team in semi-finals there's a talk of their decline too.
No. The current ranking of popularity and prestige is 1. England 2. Spain 3.Italy. 4.Germany 5 France.

Look at it this way, internationally, People are still more thrilled to watch Barcelona vs Real than Bayern vs Dortmund. Or Juve vs Ac Milan for that matter. Is there even something called a classico in France?!

But this is not the message that I wanted to convey. I was referring to the significance of La Liga title within Spain. In such countries as UK, Italy... and I always thought that Spain belonged there too, becoming the national champion was just as big deal as winning CL or at least within comparable flares of glory.