At the time of writing this (May 23rd), Robert Lewandowski has played his last game for Barcelona. Despite not playing or having played for Arsenal, he is my favorite player of all time. He left Bayern Munich, where he was a superstar there, to join Barcelona in 2022 and help the team in desperate need of resurgence. He will go down as a Barcelona legend.
During his time at Barcelona, he played 193 games, scored a total of 120 goals, and assisted 22. For an aging striker, these goals are nothing short of impressive. His first game for the Culers was on August 13th, 2022, where Barcelona drew 0-0 to Rayo Vallecano. As the score may suggest, he didn’t score or assist in this game. He would get his first goals for the club a week later, with a brace against Real Sociedad. His first “big game” came in a UCL match against Czech side Viktoria Plzen, where he recorded his first hattrick for the club. With this, he became the first player in history to get a UCL hat-trick for three different clubs. His first season would go pretty well, recording a total of 33 goals, 8 goals, and an overall rating (according to FotMob) of 7.59 out of 10. Lewandowski would go on to have another stellar season, as he recorded 26 goals and 9 assists. The Polish striker had a lot of notable moments in this season as well. On March 17th, 2024, Barcelona thrashed Atletico Madrid 3-0, with Robert bagging a goal and two beautiful assists. Within the same time frame, in their UCL clash against Napoli, he scored in the first leg to tie 1-1 and then in the second leg he scored the third and sealing goal to send Barcelona to the next round. It was around this time where the front three of Raphina, Lewandowski, and Lamine Yamal became threatening across Europe. In the summer going into the 24/25 season, I had the pleasure of watching Barcelona play Real Madrid, arguably the biggest rival in all of sports, at MetLife in a pre-season friendly. There, I saw Lewandowski record an assist to now-Braga star Pau Victor. It was a brilliant night.
In his third season with the club, he recorded his best ever stats. I found this ironic because he was only getting older and I grew concerned of his ability to keep up with his age at a high level. He recorded 42 goals and 3 assists, making him one of the scariest strikers in Europe that season. On November 26, 2024, in a UCL league phase match against French side Brest, Lewandowski would score his 100th UCL goal in his career. It is an impressive feat, but what makes it even more crazy is that he became the third person to do this, with literally Ronaldo and Messi being the others. This cements Robert as one of the best strikers of all time, and controversially, I think he is better than Luis Suarez overall. This is what makes his departure all the more sadder; a great player at a great age still putting up great numbers. Similarly, in the last match of the season, he would score his 100th Barcelona goal in his 3rd season against Athletic Club. Finally, in his fourth and final season at Barcelona, he scored only 18 times and recorded 2 assists. Despite still being a great player, this is where his age began to show. Today, in the final game of the season, he scored (despite losing) in a 3-1 loss to Valencia. It was a great way to go out. Despite his less-than-standard stats this season, he still had some pretty good moments. On January 28, 2026, in their game against Copenhagen, Lewandowski equaled Lionel Messi’s record of scoring against 40th different opponents, showcasing just how long he has been terrorizing defenders. Furthermore, on March 18th, 2026, Barcelona had their second leg game against Newcastle United in the UCL. In this game, Lewandowski scored twice, showing he can still put up a threat against big European teams. On May 17th, the second to last game of the season, he was given an emotional farewell at the Camp Nou, recognizing all he has done for the club.
I will truly miss Lewandowski. Wherever he goes next, I will become a fan of that club. I will deeply miss watching Lewandowski play for Barcelona, but for as long as he doesn’t retire, I will continue to watch him play.
