Robert Lewandowski Is A Flat Track Bully Who Goes Missing On FC Barcelona’s Big Nights, Spanish Media Claims

Multiple Spanish media outlets have started to suggest that Robert Lewandowski is a flat track bully who goes missing on FC Barcelona’s biggest nights and is generating doubts about his future at the club after the Catalans’ humiliating loss to Real Madrid in El Clasico.

After scoring two goals at bottom of the table Elche in a 4-0 league win on Saturday, the Pole had little to no impact as Los Blancos thrashed Barca by the same scoreline and dumped them out of the Copa del Rey semi-finals midweek.

On the other side of the ball, big game player Karim Benzema – who Lewandowski once challenged for the Ballon d’Or the Frenchman won last year – scored his second hat trick since Sunday and helped inflict the worse home defeat the Blaugrana have suffered to their bitter rivals in 60 years.

That Lewandowski went missing when Barca needed him most hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Catalan and Spanish press.

On Thursday, popular Mundo Deportivo columnist Xavier Bosch wrote that Lewandowski “disappears on the big nights”.

Bosch notes that Lewandowski’s goals this term have had much to do with putting Barca on course for their first La Liga title win in four years, and are worth a total of 24 out of 71 points as the 34-year-old came flying out of the tracks with 18 goals in 19 games after joining from Bayern Munich in a €45 million ($49 million).

Since the World Cup in December, however, Lewandowski’s efficiency has declined with nine strikes in 16 outings and he has stumbled in the most important stretch of the season.

Furthermore, Bosch points out, Lewandowski’s effectiveness is reduced on the “big nights” against “great rivals”.

Lewandowski has scored four goals against Elche and two against minnows Valladolid, Cadiz, and Cueta for example.

In Europe, however, he didn’t manage to score a goal away from home against the likes of Bayern, Inter Milan and Manchester United and has scored just
just
one goal in four meetings with Real Madrid which came in January’s Spanish Super Cup final.

Over at SPORT, the paper reports that Lewandowski has dropped from a goal a game before the World Cup to 0.56 goals per game after it which is “increasingly worrying”.

Despite claiming that Lewandowski had “little impact” on the most recent Clasico, MD‘s main competitor in Catalonia cuts Lewandowski some slack in that his service has been reduced with Pedri and Dembele sidelined through injuries.

From the Spanish capital Madrid, though, AS also writes that Lewandowski goes AWOL “on the big nights” and has “disappointed in the Champions League”. He has failed to score against Barca’s “eternal rival” Real Madrid in the league or cup, and has been “fading away” since a promising start to life at Camp Nou.

After El Nacional reported last month that Barca were considering whether they should sell Lewandoswki, the club’s board “intends to reflect on what Lewandowski’s real impact has been on the team and, above all, if he can have continuity over time”, according to AS.

Lewandowski has a contract until 2026 which increases each year in terms of pay. According to MARCA, the arrangement has the number ‘9’ earning a net wage of €10 million ($10.8 million) rising to €13 million ($14 million) next season and €16 million ($17.25 million) in 2024/2025.

In 2025/2026, Lewandowski’s pay will drop back down to €13 million ($14 million), but Barca may be forced to do something rash amid La Liga president Javier Tebas warning that they must reduce their wage bill by €200 million ($218 million).

One thing is for sure, Lewandowski is now starting to receive pressure from the media for a slump in form that hasn’t gone under the radar.