Robert Lewandowski practically ensured that German Bundesliga side Bayern Munich embarrassed Premier League club Chelsea football club out of the 2019-2020 UEFA Champions League. The Polish striker was instrumental in ensuring that Bayern humbled Frank Lampard led Chelsea team 7-1 on aggregate which was enough to dump them out of the Champions League in the last-16.
The beginning of Chelsea woes in the tournament started in March when Bayern Munich visited Stamford bridge for the first leg of last-16. Chelsea gave the visitors the edge as they could not stop the German club from scoring 3 goals. It became obvious that Chelsea was done with the competition when the match ended without a goal from the host.
Unfortunately for the two clubs, they were not able to settle the scores as planned due to the coronavirus pandemic that halted football in mid-March. Hence, Chelsea had to wait until August 8 before they were able to know their fate in the competition.
Though it was obvious that there was nothing the Premier League club could do in the return leg, the club’s manager, Frank Lampard told the media that the club could pull a surprise. On the contrary, it ended as expected. They were sparked 7-1 by the Bayern Munich team that is working towards winning the third major title in the 2019-2020 season.
“It’s not a slight work in progress, It is a work in progress”, Frank Lampard told BT Sport after the match. “It is not the norm for Chelsea. In the last 20 years, we had players, teams with prime Hazard and Costa, prime Cech, Terry, and Drogba. Competing for the Premier League title year on year, getting to finals and semi-finals regularly. We know that’s not the case [now].
“We lost the best player in the league pretty much in Eden Hazard. People would not normally commend coming fourth for Chelsea, we want more but the feeling is we have achieved something with the group we have. Now is the time to think where we can improve. I can see where I want us to go and I know we’ll be back.”
The Power of Robert Lewandowski on Chelsea
Though Bayern Munich won Chelsea as a compact team, a stand out player for the German champions in the two-legged match was Robert Lewandowski. It is not news how influencer the Polish striker is on the pitch but he practically took Bayern’s game against Chelsea very personal.
The 31-year-old German tactician was so good that he was directly involved in all the 7 goals the German club scored against the Premier League club. For instance, in the first leg which ended 3-0 in favor of Bayern, Lewandowski scored a goal and made two assists. While in the second leg at the Allianz Arena that ended 4-1 on Saturday, the striker scored two goals and made two assists to stamp his authority on Chelsea.
Lewandowski in #CFCFCB:
— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) August 8, 2020
1-0 Assist 🤝
2-0 Assist 🤝
3-0 Goal ⚽
Lewandowski in #FCBCFC:
1-0 Goal ⚽
2-0 Assist 🤝
3-1 Assist 🤝
4-1 Goal ⚽@lewy_official taking the Michael 🐐 pic.twitter.com/UIITCKLjD6
Besides the fact that his brilliant performance has booked his club a place in the Champions League quarter-final, he has become the second player in the history of the continental club competition to score above three goals and assists in a Champions League round. The first recorded player to achieve this feat was Luis Figo while he was playing for Real Madrid against Roma in the 2004-2005 UEFA Champions League.
So far, the 2019-2020 season has been the best for Lewandowski as he has scored 53 goals in 44 appearances in all competitions for Bayern. Thirteen of the goals he has scored was in the Champions League. More so, he has scored at least a goal in Bayern’s last 7 Champions League matches.
66 – With a brace against Chelsea tonight, Robert Lewandowski is now the outright fourth-highest scoring player in Champions League history, with 66 goals. Carnivore. pic.twitter.com/iq1YCYbpKY
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 8, 2020
