Barcelona star surpasses Cristiano Ronaldo and matches Lionel Messi's UCL record after win against Young Boys
Barcelona put their defeat to Osasuna behind them with a dominant five-star performance against Young Boys FC in the Champions League on Tuesday, October 1. Leading their impressive display was Robert Lewandowski, who scored twice and, in doing so, broke one of Cristiano Ronaldo’s records while equaling a mark set by Lionel Messi.
The Blaugrana were in need of a statement performance, particularly after their opening-day loss to Monaco, and Lewandowski provided just that, as he scored an early goal to calm the nerves. The Polish forward added his second and Barcelona’s fourth goal in the second half, bringing his total to nine goals across all competitions this season.
Lewandowski has always been a prolific scorer in European competitions. He ranks third in the Champions League’s all-time scoring list, with 96 goals in 122 appearances, behind only Lionel Messi (129 goals) and Cristiano Ronaldo (140 goals).
With his brace, he has now equaled Messi as the player with the highest goal-scoring average in the competition’s history among those who have scored at least 50 goals. Both Lewandowski and Messi lead this statistic with 0.79 goals per game, slightly ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo (0.77) and Ruud van Nistelrooy (0.77).
Additionally, Lewandowski ranks just behind Ronaldo in terms of goals scored after turning 30. At 36, Lewandowski has scored 51 goals since turning 30 while Ronaldo has 68.
After a challenging season under Xavi, the forward has certainly started this campaign in a solid fashion. While Barcelona are still at the top of the La Liga standings, the victory against Young Boys moved them to 10th place and improved their goal difference.
Pundit lauds Barcelona manager Hansi Flick for improving Robert Lewandowski’s form
Hansi Flick has indeed been a breath of fresh air for Barcelona, with the team winning eight of their 10 games across all competitions. Lewandowski, who had his lowest goal-scoring season since 2014-15 under Xavi, has already started this campaign with clear intent.
Football writer and TNT pundit James Horncastle credited Flick for revitalizing the striker’s form, noting that playing creative players around Lewandowski has allowed him to excel at what he does best.
“Going back to last year, he was struggling for the first time in a long time, under Xavi. Hansi Flick obviously knows him, has found a way to unlock him. [Lewandowski] has all these fresh imaginative players around him, Horncastle said (via EuroSport).
"See Pedri come back into the side, Lamine [Yamal] obviously coming off an incredible summer, winning the Euros with Spain. They needed the win tonight after what happened two weeks ago [the defeat to Monaco] - you could say it’s Young Boys, of course, they’re going to win, but they’ve struggled in the Champions League in the last six years," he added.
Barcelona will next face Deportivo Alaves on Sunday, October 6, before the international break. After that, they will take on Sevilla, followed by a highly anticipated Champions League clash against Bayern Munich.