Robert Lewandowski was captured snubbing former teammate and Bayern Munich player Thomas Muller in his return to Allianz arena. Bayern Munich welcomed their former prolific striker to Germany with a 2-0 thumping of his new club, Barcelona.
A dramatic and interesting scene was captured in the build-up to the Bayern Munich vs Barcelona Champions League clash.
As the players lined up for the match, Robert Lewandowski exchanged pleasantries with his old teammates, greeting and shaking hands. He was spotted snubbing Thomas Muller when it was the latter’s turn to be greeted, as he moved to other players in the line.
It is still unclear what would have caused the 33-year-old Poland international to snub his former teammate, but it was evident that he is not on good terms with Muller.
During his days at Bayern Munich, Robert Lewandowski and Thomas played together as forwards for the Bavarians. The two only parted ways when Robert Lewandowski decided to quit the Bavarians for Barcelona despite still having a year remaining in his Bayern Munich contract.
After 8 years of helping Bayern Munich to become one of the most successful teams in the Bundesliga, Robert Lewandowski said that he wanted a new challenge and was ready to leave the club.
Initial collisions with the Bayern Munich hierarchy were reported as his decision surprised the club.
Bayern Munich sporting director Salihamidzic was clearly furious about Lewandowski’s decision. Bayern were not ready to let go of one of their prolific and deadly attackers. However, they could not do anything to reverse Lewandowski’s decision, who had reached a personal agreement with Barcelona already.
Lewandowski finally left the Bavarians for £45m and signed a four-year contract with the Catalans. Since joining his new club, he has replicated his Bundesliga form, emerging as La Liga’s
top goal scorer with 6 goals in 5 matches.
Thomas Muller has been a critique of Robert Lewandowski’s departure from Bayern Munich. Although he does not give details of his reason, Muller has continually asserted that Lewandowski’s decision to exit the Allianz Arena is misplaced.
Speaking before the much-anticipated Champions League clash, he stated that Bayern Munich lost Lewandowski’s qualities, but the team has regained new qualities and cannot depend on him.
“We lost his qualities, but all players have different qualities. So we lost his qualities, but we also gained new qualities. Everything changes a little”, the German said.
The Bundesliga icon added that there would be situations that the fans may crave for Lewandowski, and there are situations they will not need him.
“Of course, we will have situations on the pitch in which the fan says, ‘Oh, now we need Lewandowski back.’ But I am sure that we have also had other situations in which they have thought, ‘Oh, it also suits us without Lewandowski’. So it is the type of game you can play at the end of every match,” he added.
He also admitted that Lewandowski’s decision to leave Bayern was an error; which will show in the Champions League game.
“Lewandowski is a great player, a great person, and I only hope that we can show him tomorrow (on Tuesday, September 13) that it was a mistake to leave”, Muller said.
Thomas Muller also shared an online video after the Champions League fixture was released. In the video, he called on Lewandowski, saying he will welcome him to Allianz Arena for the clash to prove that Bayern are now a stronger and better team.
Lewandowski not shaking hands with Thomas Muller may be connected to the latter’s recent gestures and comments since his departure. However, it is still unverified as no beef has been recorded between both players before now.
Bayern went on to extend their 11 wins to 12 after defeating the Xavi Hernandez side by two unreplied goals to go top of Group C.
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