Move over Messi and Ronaldo, here comes Lewandowski

Like most individual football awards, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have practically made the European Golden Shoe award their own.

Messi has won the award, which is given to the top scorer in a European league six times in the last 10 years, while Ronaldo has won it three times, sharing the award with Luis Suarez in 2014. The Uruguayan international also picked up the award outright in 2016.

The current leader in the standings is Bayern Munich’s star striker Robert Lewandowski, who has managed an astonishing 16 goals in 12 Bundesliga matches, giving him 32 points – four more than Lazio striker Ciro Immobile.

If European cup goals were to be taken into consideration as well, the Polish international would have an even bigger lead as he tops the scorer charts in the Champions League with 10 goals from eight matches.

Last Tuesday he scored the fastest-ever Champions League quadruple (taking 14 minutes and 31 seconds) in Bayern’s 6-0 rout at Crvena Zvezda, leading to rave revues throughout Europe.

Lewandowski, of course, is no newcomer to scoring and European football and has been top scorer in the Bundesliga four times since joining Borussia Dortmund from Lech Poznan in 2010.

He spent four seasons with the Black and Yellows before joining Bayern Munich on a free transfer in the summer of 2014.

Not surprisingly Lewandowski has previously been linked with a number of clubs, including Real Madrid and some of the Premier League giants and last year he was close to leaving the perennial German champions, claiming that he was not appreciated enough by Bayern officials.

But after talks the 31-year-old committed to Bayern, saying: “My heart is with Bayern again. I have noticed how the fans are behind me. I have noticed that the club wants me.

“I was never considering going on strike to push through a transfer. I will never start fighting with my club. I am happy in Germany and am not interested in thinking about other countries.”

It was something that Bayern officials took note of and at the start of this season they offered him a new three-year contract which made him the highest-earning player at the club.

“Bayern has become my new sporting home. Our family also feel at home in Munich. I am certain that we will still achieve a lot in the next few years. Bayern is one of the three biggest clubs in the world and we have an excellent team. I am proud to be a part of this club,” he said.

Bayern boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has heaped praise on his striker. “I consider Robert the best centre forward in the world and for years he has been one of the most important players in our team. I am happy that he will continue playing for us for a long time.“

Signing a new contract has obviously given Lewandowski a new lease on life – if ever he needed one.

His record of 26 goals in just 20 matches this season is a better goal ratio than even Ronaldo or Messi ever achieved and he could be on course to break the Argentine’s record of 73 goals, scored in the 2011/12 season.

Lewandowski has two goals more than Messi had after 20 matches in that season, but the Barcelona player went on to play an astonishing 60 games, which Lewandowski cannot match, even if Bayern were to go on an win the treble.

And with Lewandowski on fire, Bayern winning the treble is not something that is beyond the realms of possibility.

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