Lewandowski is going for Ronaldo’s record. Will he dethrone the Portuguese?

Robert Lewandowski executed Salzburg with his hat-trick on Tuesday to send Bayern into the Champions League quarter-finals. At the same time, however, it was his goal with the serial number 12, bringing him close to Cristiano Ronaldo.

Almost every possible record in the Champions League is held by Cristiano Ronaldo. Whether it’s the number of trophies won, the most goals scored, the most goals in a final, semi-final or quarter-final, the most goals in a group stage, the most goals in a single season. But that record is now being shaken to its foundations.

The Portuguese phenom netted 17 goals in one edition of the millionaire competition in the 2013/14 season. The only one to ever come close to that record was Ronaldo’s version of the 2015/16 season, when he netted 16 goals. In third place is Lewandowski’s 15 goals from the 2019/20 season.

But after a successful eighth-place finish, Lewandowski is on a decent run. He scored nine times in the group stage, added a hat-trick against Salzburg and is now on 12 goals. Of course, scoring 5 goals in the final stage of the tournament will not be easy. However, nothing is impossible for the Polish sharpshooter.

It will be very important what kind of opponent Bayern gets. If he faces someone more viable, Lewandowski can erase 3-4 goals right in the quarterfinals. Anyway, Bayern probably won’t meet anyone like Salzburg anymore. And the Austrian side gave a great performance in the first game.

Lewandowski’s huge advantage is, like Ronaldo, that he is very versatile and can score any goal. With his right and left foot, with his head, from a break, from a penalty, he has the perfect choice of space in the penalty area. Very hard to defend such a striker when you practically can’t eliminate his strengths, as he has several.

At the same time, Lewandowski is competing for the third place in the tables of the best scorers in the history of the Champions League. Cristiano Ronaldo is first with 140 goals, Lionel Messi is second with 125 goals. Lewandowski is third with 85, only to be pipped by Benzema with 76.

Source: UEFA