It feels a little unfair that Euro 2020 will continue in the absence of the world’s top number nine, especially considering his exhibition on match day three.
Robert Lewandowski drew Poland close to the knockout phase with his two goals against Sweden, but he could not do enough to inspire them to the next round when a 3-2 defeat left them bottom in Group E with one point from three matches.
It may seem like little consolation, but the Bayern Munich star’s performance saw him at least finish the top of the Opta index for the last match day of the group stage with a rating of 99.55, the highest score we have seen in these finals.
Lewandowski’s high header guaranteed a surprise point for Poland against Spain in Sevilla and gave them a chance to go through until Emil Forsberg’s double left Paulo Sousa’s side with barely any hope.
The man who this year broke Gerd Muller’s 49-year-old record for Bundesliga goals in a single season (he made 41 in 34 games, if you had forgotten) was not prepared to give up. After missing a clear chance earlier with a rebound, he competed on Piotr Zielinski’s pass, cut infield from the left and curled a sublime shot in the far corner. In the process, he became Poland’s leading scorer at this tournament by four and surpassed the record held by Jakub Blaszczykowski.
With six minutes left, Lewandowski made it five at the European Championships, collected Przemyslaw Frankowski’s cross and slotted his left foot to give Poland a chance – at least until Viktor Claesson struck a winning time for Sweden. He finished the group game as the player who tried the most shots (12): four of them were blocked and of the four who hit the target, three went in.
Lewandowski has now scored 69 goals for Poland in all competitions. It is remarkable that there are more than twice as many as the rest of their Euro 2020 teams have done together (34). In men’s football history, only four European players have scored more international goals: Miroslav Klose (71), Sandor Kocsis (75), Ferenc Puskas (84) and Cristiano Ronaldo (109).
The only player to score at three different European Championships for Poland (2020, 2016 and 2012), Lewandowski also made sure that this was the first time they ever scored more than one goal in a single game at this tournament. This was their 14th attempt.
There is little doubt that Poland have too often been disappointed with tournaments that have had some of the talent at their disposal, but Lewandowski delivered at least the goods this year. It seems a pity he could not be with anymore.
