Robert Lewandowski vs Lionel Messi: Bayern Munich and Barcelona heavyweights meet in Champions League in what should have been a Ballon d’Or battle
Barcelona and Bayern Munich will meet in the Champions League quarter-final on Friday – live on talkSPORT – as they bid for a place in the final four.
On the pitch, there will be an intense battle for supremacy between two of the best players in world football right now – Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski.
Robert Lewandowski is the top scorer in the Champions League this season
The pair have enjoyed spectacular seasons with their respective clubs and it would have been a close call for the Ballon d’Or.
Except there will be no Ballon d’Or this year after bosses decided to scrap the 2020 edition amid the coronavirus pandemic.
COVID-19 has caused disruption across the globe and, at one point, none of us would have anticipated the Champions League being played in August.
The format has changed from what we are used to with all the remaining knockout games being played in Portgual.
Instead of the usual two legs, the winners of a single knockout game will go through to the next round with the final on August 23.
Here we’ve taken a look at how Messi and Lewandowski’s statistics stack up ahead of Friday’s clash – with commentary of the game live on talkSPORT.
Lionel Messi has just three goals in this season’s Champions League
Champions League
Robert Lewandowski is having a tremendous season in Europe and is the top scorer in the 2019/20 tournament.
The Poland international has 13 goals in just seven appearances and added four assists with it.
That means he’s been involved in a goal for Bayern Munich every 31 minutes.
He scored four times against Red Star in the group stages back in November and also hit doubles against Chelsea and Tottenham.
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Lewandowski is also set to be the first person other than Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to win the Champions League Golden Boot since Kaka won it in 2007.
He also has Ronaldo’s record of 17 in a single campaign in his sights – but has a maximum of three games because of the scrapped two-legged ties.
The 31-year-old is also bidding to win his first ever European title having lost the only final he played in. That was actually against Bayern back in 2013 when he was a Borussia Dortmund player.
Lewandowski is also moving up the Champions League top scorer list and is five behind Raul’s total of 71.
He’s still some way off Ronaldo and Messi who have 130 and 115, respectively.
Lewandowski has 54 goals for Bayern this season
Lionel Messi is having a relatively quiet season in the Champions League with just three goals and three assists to his name.
The last time the Barcelona man got fewer than six goals in Europe in a season was way back in 2006/07.
There’s plenty of time for some Messi magic with three potential games to go.
The Argentina international will want to add to his four previous Champions League titles, especially with Barcelona missing out on the LaLiga title and potentially ending the season trophyless.
Messi has won the Champions League four times
League form
The Bayern Munich forward again leads the way in this race with an incredible 34 goals in just 31 games as he helped his side win the Bundesliga.
Bayern have yet to lose a game in 2020 as they look to secure the treble.
There were just six league games in which Lewandowski failed to score this season but surprisingly he has only managed to scored one hat-trick.
The 2019/20 campaign saw his best ever league goal tally but it is remarkably the third time he’s broken the 30 goal mark in just six seasons at the Bundesliga club.
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Messi scored 25 goals as Barcelona missed out on the LaLiga title to rivals Real Madrid.
Scoring that amount of goals to anyone’s standards would be a phenomenal return – and he finished the top scorer in the Spanish league.
But it was his worst league goal tally since the 2008/09 campaign.
It has been a frustrating year both on and off the pitch for Barca and that could be reflected in his goal return.
There were reports of a bust-up between the players and manager Quique Seitan and Messi even publicly criticised those higher up at the club.
Messi is said to be unhappy at Barcelona and they could end up trophyless this season
Conclusion
Lewandowski has arguably been the best player in the world this season and probably would have been a shoo-in for the Ballon d’Or if it had been held.
Despite his remarkable achievements on the pitch – his career total is 425 goals in 618 games – he still struggles to get the recognition he probably deserves in the era of Messi and Ronaldo.
The highest he’s ever finished in the Ballon d’Or is fourth in 2015 but rarely gets talked about as a contender for the top prize.
Bayern are one of the favourites to win the Champions League and that would only enhanced his case for the accolade.
Lewandowski will be hoping to win his first Champions League title
Knocking out Barcelona and Messi would be the competition would be a good start in proving that he should have won the award.
Germany World Cup winner Lothar Matthaus thinks that Lewandowski should now be considered the best player in the world.
Speaking to Bild, he said: “Messi faces his successor as the best player in the world: Robert Lewandowski. He is the best player, not just the best forward
“The Barca of today is no longer the same as before. They have Messi, of course. A player like him is always capable of genius.
“But he alone will not be enough against this Bayern. Barcelona do not scare me.”
Lewandowki vs Messi
Lewandowski
League appearances: 31
League goals: 34
League assists: 4
UCL appearances: 7
UCL goals: 13
UCL assists: 4
Messi
League appearances: 33
League goals: 25
League assists: 21
UCL appearances: 7
UCL goals: 3
UCL assists: 3
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