Lewandowski matches Ronaldo feat to join exclusive Champions League club

Robert Lewandowski’s header to crown Bayern Munich’s 3-0 Champions League semi-final victory over Lyon gave him a place in the competition’s history books alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.

It was the Poland striker’s 15th goal in this season’s tournament, part of a remarkable haul of 55 across all competitions.

Ronaldo is the only other player to hit that number, although he has incredibly done so on three occasions – each time in successful campaigns for Real Madrid.

In 2013-14, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner struck an unmatched 17, while he scored 16 and 15 in 2015-16 and 2017-18 respectively.

Lewandowski has also now scored in nine consecutive Champions League matches.

Only Ronaldo in 2018 (11) and fellow former Manchester United favourite Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2003 (also nine) have netted in as many successive outings.

In the Champions League final on Sunday against Paris Saint-Germain, Lewandowski can match or even beat another Ronaldo record. 

Ronaldo’s 17 goals across the 2013-14 Champions League campaign is the most ever scored by a single player with Lewandowski now within touching distance of that feat. 

A brace would see him equal the record, while a hat-trick against PSG would ensure the Polish striker holds the mantle all by himself. 

Despite Lewandowski closing in on such an impressive feat, Bayern manager Hansi Flick has stressed he doesn’t expect his star to be distracted by it on Sunday. 

“He won’t think about that, he’s happy that he finished our game. He works a lot for the team, that’s very important,” Flick said.

“For me he is the world’s best centre-forward and I hope he scores against Paris too.”

While Lewandowski etched his name into the record books against Lyon, it was Serge Gnabry that stole the show with an impressive double. 

“Serge Gnabry’s outstanding individual performance gave us security,” Flick said. 

“The opening goal was outstanding. When you see Serge’s development over the last few years, you have to say that he is close to a world class player. We are very happy that he scored two goals and that we are happy to have him. He has tremendous qualities and I think he is far from the end of his development.”