The last few weeks have not been easy for Robert Lewandowski. The Polish striker was injured in the match against Celta at the Estadi Olímpic on April 19. In the final minutes of the match, the Polish player fell to the ground with obvious physical problems. This is a significant loss at a crucial stage of the season, where not only the team has important things at stake.
Lewandowski has missed several key matches and returned in Milan in the Champions League match against Inter, where he played extra time but failed to find the net. In addition, as with the left-back, coach Hansi Flick confirmed in a press conference that Balde, already cleared to play, and Lewandowski, still not 100%, would not be available for El Clásico.
These absences have proved costly for the Polish striker. Kylian Mbappé has overtaken him in the race for the top scorer’s jersey. While Lewandowski was on the bench, the French striker has scored five goals in the last two games, putting him at the top of the scoring charts. El Clásico began with Lewy on 25 goals to the Madridista’s 24, but Mbappé’s hat-trick has put him at the top of the scoring charts with 27 goals, two ahead of the Blaugrana striker, who now has three games to turn the situation around.
The next three games (Espanyol, Villarreal, and Athletic Club) will be a challenge for Lewandowski, not only because he needs to make up two goals in the race for the top scorer title, but also because he has another milestone to reach that is proving elusive. He has not scored for weeks, since April 9 against Dortmund, and has yet to reach his 100th goal for Barcelona.
The new Lewandowski
Barça have been scouting the market for strikers for several months, looking for Lewandowski’s heir. Although he will renew his contract, his age means that a reliable replacement is needed for the future. However, the solution could be at home. In the absence of the Polish striker due to injury, Ferran Torres has played as a number 9 and has been very impressive, as he has shown throughout the season.
His numbers speak for themselves. He has scored in practically all of Barça’s important games, although he did not find the net in Sunday’s El Clásico, and he was the top scorer in the Copa del Rey with six goals throughout the tournament, including the final in Seville against Real Madrid. The player himself has been putting himself forward as the future striker for Barça for some time now.
“I can be Barça’s starting center forward,” he said. ‘I have confidence in myself and I can be FC Barcelona’s starting center forward, why not?’ he asked rhetorically. ‘If the club thinks it needs to look for someone else, fine, welcome, but I’m very good at competition,’ he emphasized.