Robert Lewandowski warmed up for next week’s matchup with Bayern Munich by netting a spectacular hat-trick in Barcelona’s thrashing of Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League.
Since leaving Bayern in July, the 34-year-old Polish attacker has scored eight goals in five appearances, proving his worth.
In his first Champions League game for Barca, Lewandowski, who assisted Bayern in winning the championship in 2019–20, extended the advantage after Franck Kessie had put the hosts ahead with a goal from the penalty spot.
On the verge of halftime, he added a header to make it 3-1 after Ousmane Dembele had done well to recover possession and provide a quality cross.
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When Jan Sykora headed past Marc-Andre ter Stegen for Viktoria Plzen, the Czech Republic’s traveling supporters temporarily had something to shout about. However, Barca and Lewandowski proved to be much too powerful.
After 67 minutes, Lewandowski scored a fifth goal with the help of a pass from former Manchester City striker Ferran Torres.
“Tonight, Lewandowski demonstrated his talent. He is regarded as one of the top strikers in the world, and for good reason “declared Michal Bilek, manager of Viktoria Plzen.
Robert Lewandowski is the first player to score a hat-trick in the Champions League for three separate teams—Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, and Barcelona.
In his most recent 20 Champions League group stage games, he scored 32 goals.
A 2-0 victory against Bayern at Inter Milan gave Barcelona the ideal start to Group C. They will play Bayern next Tuesday (20:00 BST).
Lewandowski left Borussia Dortmund in 2014 and joined Bayern on a free transfer. Last season, he scored 50 goals in 46 games to help Bayern win the Bundesliga for the tenth consecutive season.
He is Bayern’s second-highest scorer, after only Gerd Muller, with 344 goals in 374 appearances.
