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Graham Hunter, Spain writer
Barcelona‘s end to the year on LaLiga has been so cataclysmically bad that it would be harsh to point to one single reason for their tragicomic vulnerability. But any attempt to define why Barcelona have suddenly become the weak man of Spanish football without naming Robert Lewandowski would be miles off the mark.
The Polish striker has become a glaring and probably unsolvable problem for the Catalan club, and he represents an enormous Achilles heel from which neither of their two main title rivals, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid, suffer. It’s arguable that all the debilities which Lewandowski causes Hansi Flick’s team might deny them a chance of winning LaLiga this season — a task which not that long ago (when they led Atléti by 10 points and had thrashed Los Blancos 4-0 away from home) looked like their minimum objective.
The first thing, in fairness, is to acknowledge that the 36-year-old’s start to the season was not only statistically good, but reasonably impressive in terms of his form, consistency and reliability. When the assorted youngsters around him were playing with verve and confidence, but above all energy, Lewandowski profited from absolutely exceptional service and his ability to finish chances was at a decent level.
Moreover, his two stunning goals at Real Madrid in the Clásico were finishes of top quality — something which the 36-year-old has not made a habit of since arriving from Bayern Munich two-and-a-half years ago for both a big transfer fee ($46.8 million) and ludicrously high wages.
And, to wrap up this “balance” section, let’s acknowledge that this rollercoaster season did not begin as disastrously as it is now going for Barcelona’s highest-paid footballer ($37m gross this season), whose goal contributions per minutes on the pitch is still healthy. In LaLiga, he has either hit the net or assisted a teammate every 82 minutes, stemming from his 16 goals and two assists in 1,484 minutes on the pitch.
By comparison, Real Madrid’s top scorer, Kylian Mbappé, has a goal contribution every 115 minutes stemming from 10 goals and two assists in 1,376 pitch minutes, while Alexander Sørloth, Atlético’s top scorer’s numbers are eight goals and two assists in 778 minutes (one goal contribution every 78 minutes).
So, in summary: Lewandowski is Spain’s top scorer, has played his part in Barcelona scoring 15 times more than at this stage last season and still has a better goal-contribution rate than Mbappé but he has failed to produce a winning goal (match-deciding) since October, has not scored in any of Barcelona’s five domestic defeats this season and has begun to miss numerous chances. But, worst of all, the weakness where he differs most from the two leading scorers in the other LaLiga contenders, is that when Lewandowski is not scoring you get absolutely abysmal standards from him in other aspects of play.
Let me relate to you what the two Catalan football newspapers said about the Pole after Atléti’s first away win at Barcelona in Diego Simeone’s 13 years as manager (stream a replay on ESPN+ in the U.S.). Mundo Deportivo critiqued: “His offensive level has dropped, which might be understandable because he began the season sensationally. What is incomprehensible is that he doesn’t work anything like as hard as the rest of his teammates.” Diario Sport, meanwhile, argued: “For weeks he has been far too disconnected from Barcelona’s play. He’s imprecise in his control of the ball and then how he lays possession off to teammates. Against Atléti he missed a chance which was improper for a player of his standard. His end-of-year form is worrying.”
Just in case those who worship at the temple of Lewandowski believe that across a number of columns I have been too harsh on the striker, I think it’s worth pointing out that other things have gone significantly wrong in the team around him. Firstly, Flick’s team is noticeably tired, mentally and physically. Secondly, the quality of pressing which helped Barcelona’s high defensive line function so well has dropped. Thirdly, Barcelona are conceding far too many goals without their goalkeeper, Iñaki Peña, producing crucial, match-deciding saves even though his initial form has improved. They badly miss Marc-André ter Stegen.
But when I listen to either pundits, fans, journalists or ex-players analyse Lewandowski, it astonishes me how his fame, status and his statistics too often allow them to ignore the extremely low, unreliable and damaging level of play when it comes to everything else except tucking away simple chances created by Lamine Yamal and Raphinha.
He doesn’t press, he doesn’t chase after players who have waltzed past him, his control of even simple passes tends to be extremely weak, he doesn’t hold the ball up so that teammates can move into advantageous positions, and the unreliability of his passing when he does actually control the ball is startling to see. Not only is there a strong case that he should be intermittently benched, I would argue that if you were watching a young footballer playing like this, you would be critical of his level, he would be asked to do remedial work in training, and he most certainly would not be starting in a team with aspirations to be champions of Spain and Europe.
I know, I know — one of the areas where it’s unfair to compare him to Mbappé and Sørloth is the damage that Old Father Time does. The Frenchman is in his mid-20s, the Norwegian has only just turned 29, whereas Lewandowski is nearer to 40 than 30 and admitted after the defeat to Atléti that he was “lacking calm in front of goal and feeling some self-doubt.” But, for the hard of understanding, it is not simply that as a striker he has missed glaring chances in recent weeks that makes me point the finger of accusation at him. Every single forward goes through moments like that.
Lewandowski is either in accelerated decline as a leading footballer or he’s not trying hard enough. It’s that simple.
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Burley: Barcelona ‘only have themselves to blame’ for late Atletico defeat
Craig Burley says Barcelona’s inability to finish a number of chances came back to bite them in their 2-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid.
What exacerbates the comparison with Sørloth and Mbappé, even though pure statistics still say that Lewandowski is doing better, is that the other two create chances and valuable free space for teammates, they dribble past opponents, they hold the ball up and both of them, despite difficult starts to the season, are on the rise, and are working extremely hard. Which cannot be said of Barcelona’s No.9.
At the weekend, Lewandowski claimed that both he and Barcelona would come back after the short Christmas break refreshed and playing better. But the evidence of recent seasons has been contrary to that. In each of the last two terms he has declined as the weight of an evermore demanding schedule increased. And it is evident that some at Barcelona wish it were not the case that his contract will be automatically renewed for another year if Lewandowski completes a few more games between now and February — and wish that there was not the mutual option to negotiate an extra year in Blaugrana colours.
It most certainly is not Lewandowski’s fault that his employers, when trying to sign him from Bayern, did an awful job of the contract negotiations given that they could already anticipate an inevitable decline in his footballing value as he aged. But it is Barcelona’s fault that at a time when their financial situation is so bad that they are having to fight like tigers via judicial means in order to be able to register Dani Olmo for the remainder of the season — and their financial fair play position is still extraordinarily poor — that nobody is addressing the Lewandowski situation.
He should be in the starting XI only when his form merits it, not because of how much he’s costing them or because of hierarchy. They, or at least Flick, should be hammering home the message that even when his finishing rate goes up, his general play is subpar.
And, delicate though this is, the club should be using their newfound financial largesse (courtesy of their new sponsorship contract with Nike) to negotiate buying out what will be an otherwise automatic extra year next season (because he’s close to the trip-switch of playing in 60% of Barcelona’s fixtures) and sending a once high-quality but now a free-fall declining striker to his next destination.