Robert Lewandowski’s barnstorming start to the season has hit another high, with the Bayern Munich striker breaking an all-time Bundesliga record on Saturday.
He scored what proved to be the winning goal in a topsy-turvy 3-2 win at Paderborn, taking his league tally to 10 goals in six games – the best total of any player at this stage of the season.
Only one player had ever scored in the first six Bundesliga games of a season. Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang notched in eight consecutive games for Borussia Dortmund at the beginning of the 2015-16 campaign, but it took him until the eighth before he hit double figures.
Four players had previously hit nine in their first six, including two Bayern icons. Jupp Heynckes, Gerd Muller, Peter Meyer and Lothar Emmerich were the men knocked off their shared perch for the six-game record.
Lewandowski, 31, has been unstoppable in every competition so far this season, also notching in the DFB-Pokal and Champions League to take his own scoring streak to eight games. He has never enjoyed such a lengthy purple patch.
Lewandowski’s strikes so far this season include a hat-trick at Schalke, two apiece against Hertha Berlin and Cologne, and further goals against Mainz and title rivals Leipzig before Saturday’s effort at Paderborn.
Getty ImagesLewandowski’s form may have Mauricio Pochettino and Hugo Lloris sweating in the coming days, as Bayern travel to face Tottenham in the Champions League group stage on Tuesday night.
Regardless of whether he finds the net in north London, the Poland international will then look to continue his domestic scoring streak with Bundesliga fixtures against Hoffenheim and Augsburg. The odds would seem to be in his favour, after scoring in each of his last three league games against Hoffenheim.
While Lewandowski has cemented his place as a Bayern Munich legend, his goalscoring feats nevertheless leave him still down in fourth in the club’s all-time scoring charts – though second place is within sight.
He is now on 203 goals in all competitions for the Bavarians, with Rainer Ohlhauser and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge just ahead of him on 215 and 218 respectively.
Lewandowski may need to extend his scoring streak for a little while longer if he is to reach top spot, however, with the legendary Muller still sitting pretty on 564 competitive goals for the club across a 15-year spell.