UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Lewandowski joins the Ronaldo and Messi scoring club in UEFA competitions
The Polish striker scored in Barcelona’s Champions League rout over Royal Antwerp, and now sits at the same table as Cristiano and Leo.
On the first day of action in the group stage of the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League, which brought forth several significant developments, one that stands out prominently is Robert Lewandowski joining Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as the only footballers to have scored 100 or more goals in European confederation competitions.
How many European goals has Lewandowski scored?
Prior to Tuesday’s match in which FC Barcelona faced Royal Antwerp, Lewandowski had 99 goals in the Europa League and Champions League combined, distributed among Lech Poznan (6), Barcelona (6), Borussia Dortmund (18), and Bayern Munich (69).
With his goal against the Belgian team, the Polish striker reached seven goals with the Blaugrana and 100 goals in his UEFA career overall.
Can Lewandowski overtake Ronaldo or Messi?
To put into perspective the successful journey of the number ‘9′ for Xavi Hernandez’s team in club competitions on the Old Continent, it’s important to recall the number of times Cristiano and Messi found the back of the net against their rivals, which corresponds to 145 and 132 goals, respectively. As for the Champions League, the Portuguese has 140, and the Argentine has recorded 129.
Considering the fact that the football legends who led the world of football throughout the 21st century no longer compete in the Champions League due to their new challenges in Saudi Arabia and the United States, it is anticipated that the striker from the Polish national team can continue to edge closer to their legendary totals and, their fans hope, lead Barcelona back to the desired prominence at the top of the continental game.
It’s worth noting that Barcelona’s opponents in the group stage are not particularly challenging. In addition to Royal Antwerp, they will face Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk, with the Portuguese team being the ones who could offer significant resistance.
Barcelona’s next UEFA Champions League match will be an away fixture at the Estadio do Dragão on October 4th.