It has been a stellar start to the campaign for Barcelona. Despite losing 4-2 at Osasuna, the Catalan side remain atop La Liga with 21 points from eight matches, and one player who has proven vital is Robert Lewandowski.

The Polish striker reached an all-time high under Hansi Flick, becoming the first player since Johan Cruyff to achieve the European treble while being the highest goalscorer in all three competitions, and the first to do it as the sole top scorer. The following season, he broke Gerd Müller’s 49-year-old for the most goals in a Bundesliga season with 41 goals in 2020/21.

Four years later, he’s back together with Flick and thriving with seven goals and two assists in La Liga. Despite being on the wrong end of 36, Lewandowski sits atop the scoring charts and is on track to surpass Lionel Messi as the player with the most top scorer awards in Europe’s top five leagues with nine.

Name: Robert Lewandowski

Position: Center Forward

Age: 36

Country: Poland

Preferred Foot: Right

Lewandowski began his career at Delta Warszawa until he joined Legia Warszawa in 2005 where he stayed for one year and then was signed by Znicz Pruszkow for €15k. He played there for two seasons and then joined Lech Poznan for €380k where he played for two seasons until he got his transfer to Borussia Dortmund for less than €5 million.

At Dortmund, he stayed for 4 seasons before joining Bayern Munich on a free transfer in 2014 and playing there until 2022 when he joined FC Barcelona for €50 million at the age of 34. Before we begin the data analysis it is important to mention that all the players participating will have at least 300 minutes played in the first few matches.

Goals + Assists

Strikers are often counted upon to get high numbers in goals, not so much in assists. Nonetheless, it is also an important aspect to take into account and can tell us the profile of the striker.

In this image, we can see that Lewandowski is by far the player with the most goals and xG, showing his extraordinary ability to get into goal-scoring positions, averaging more than 0.85 xG per 90. In addition, he is close to an average of 0.8 goals per 90 which is outstanding and shows his efficacy in front of goal. However, it is important to notice that he is the penalty taker for his team and has scored 1 goal from a penalty against Valencia on the first matchday.

Something we constantly see Lewandowski doing when he is not dropping to form numerical superiorities in midfield is to make runs in behind the defense, thus moving the back line further back. This means that there is then more space for the midfielders to receive the ball between the lines and then attack at the opposition.

This has allowed him to generate opportunities with his off-the-ball movements and also we have seen him score many goals by using the space that a defender has left behind because he has followed another player. In this example, we can see that Raphinha has taken one of the center-backs more central, leaving space for Lewandowski to run into and get a 1vs1 to score a goal.

Here, we can observe that Lewandowski is the player with the most xA with more than 0.3 per 90. This shows his ability to generate high-quality chances for his teammates and also that he has the ability to generate opportunities apart from just scoring goals.

Dribbling

How many dribbles a center forward attempts and completes can tell us his profile as it means that he is more agile and looks to carry out these actions.

With this image, we can identify that Robert Lewandowski is a target man and that dribbling is not one of his strong points and never has been as he does not have the agility to be effective in these situations. Because of that, he attempts less than 2 dribbles per 90, very similar to that of Vedat Muriqi of Mallorca who is not known for his dribbling either due to his big stature and playing style.

Passing

How many passes a center forward attempts tells us if he drops to support and help in the build-up. In addition, this can tell us if he is a target man or if he gets involved in the play.

This image tells us that Lewandowski is not a player who is very involved in the play even though his team is a heavily possession-based side. Nonetheless, these numbers are very similar to other strikers who are also in teams that want to have the ball like Gorka Guruzeta of Athletic Club or Isaac Romero of Sevilla.

In addition, this data is heavily influenced by outliers such as Iván Martín or Antoine Griezmann who are not players considered to be reference points but rather more associative players. undervaluing Lewandowski’s amount of passes per 90. Even though it appears that Lewandowski may not be a player that is heavily involved in the build-up of his team according to the data, the video analysis sends a different message.

In Barcelona’s matches, we can see Lewandowski consistently move towards the central midfield area to help in progression and in positional play he may even appear as an attacking midfielder at times. Nonetheless, it is also true that he is not a player with the quickest feet and is not comfortable in closed spaces so he usually plays it back if he is surrounded by many players.

Progressive Passing

This passing metric gives us more depth into the danger of each player’s passing rather than just passing the ball forward 5m. This is because this metric only includes more specific passes such as a pass 10m closer to the opposition goal if the pass comes from the opposition side of the pitch.

This image shows that Lewandowski is not a player who can be considered a playmaker with similar numbers once more to Guruzeta and Muriqi. It is clear that this is not one of his strongest aspects, though this is also affected by his lack of time on the ball as we saw in the previous graph.

Aerial Duels

For center forwards, it is important to be able to win aerial duels as when needed, their team will probably play in long and they are counted upon to win those duels to be able to attack at the defense.

Here, we can see that Lewandowski is a player that is rarely faced with aerial duels, however, this is because of FC Barcelona’s playing style as very rarely do they play long balls. Because of that, Lewandowski’s results are affected and they say that he is similar to Sheraldo Becker and Stoickhov who are both players who are not target men for their respective teams.

According to the data, Lewandowski is a player that is rarely involved in aerial duels but this is because the long balls he does receive, he receives to control them rather than play to another player. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, Robert Lewandowski is showing that he remains in the list of the best strikers on the planet with his start to the season. We can observe within his strengths his tactical intelligence whether it is dropping to form numerical superiorities in midfield or making runs to enlarge the space between the defensive and midfield lines. 

After a fairly disappointing season that saw him score 19 goals in 35 matches, Lewandowski is averaging a goal every 93 minutes and continuing to display incredible ability to bring down aerial balls, giving Barcelona more tools in possession when the opposition press. Overall, his tactical awareness and quality as a player have shown that Lewandowski is still up to par with the best forwards in the world despite his age.

By: Juan Fernandez Valencia / @ScoutLaLiga

Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Quality Sport Images / Getty Images