He's too old now, they said. Too slow, too uninterested. Sure, he'd come into the squad last year, new to the country, to the league, and scored 33 goals in 46 games, winning the league Golden Boot playing for a slightly dysfunctional team that's in the middle of a rebuild... but bah, that was so last year.
What matters is now, and in the now, he's not finishing like he used to. He's scored just 15 goals in 32 games this season, he's missed open chances and he's underperforming his xG considerably. That's it, they said.
At 35, this was going to be it for a man who had built his game around an incredible physicality that kept him at the top of his game for so long. Then, on Saturday, Robert Lewandowski received a pass from Lamine Yamal and...
Before we get to the veteran Polish striker, a word on Yamal. At 16, he's already got that aura the best players have: 'Give me the ball, and let me do my thing, you can trust me'. So when he received the ball down the right wing in the last minute of the first half, the Barca around him set off, his movement attracting three Celta Vigo shirts. That gravitational pull opened up just a bit of space down the inside left channel, and it's into that he played a perfectly weighted pass...
...and then Lewandowski showed us why he's scored 590 club goals over the past couple of decades.
The Yamal pass is very good, but it's Lewandowski who makes it excellent and turns it into an assist. Most footballers would have received that ball on the inside of their foot, shifted the ball and either attempted a shot or held it up just outside the box and moved it on. That's what Celta centre-back Carl Starfelt felt was going to happen, so he made the logical move and closed the shooting angle. Except Lewandowski takes a touch with the outside of his boot, cushioning it brilliantly into the space that Starfelt had occupied till a millisecond ago.
That touch is so perfectly calculated that in his next two strides, Lewandowski has gotten into that perfect striking pose we have seen so often. And BANG! The ball arrows into the far bottom corner with power and precision.
Goal #49 for Barcelona, and it had prised open a stubborn Celta defence. All those accusations of lethargy and 'he should just retire now' faded away with two trademark touches from one of the sport's greatest centre-forwards. Two touches that take our moment of the weekend.
P.S. Iago Aspas scored to equalise because this is the Balaidos and Iago Aspas always scores against Barca here, but it was Lewandowski who stepped up to score a (retaken) 97th-minute penalty to win it for Barca 2-1. That was goal #50... making it 64 goal contributions in 79 games, moving past Thierry Henry and David Villa on the all-time Barca top scorers list, becoming the third fastest to 50 (after Luis Suarez and Samuel Eto'o). Not too shabby for a 'finished' 35-year-old, eh?
The 50 Goal Man �� pic.twitter.com/gNAbERQRgC
- FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 18, 2024