Determined Lewandowski Set For Best Ever Season

Robert Lewandowski has been in fantastic form for Bayern Munich, and the season hasn't even started. Jonathan Harding looks at why.

This year's Bundesliga pre-season has started with ominous noises coming out of the Bayern Munich camp, none louder than those of new striker Robert Lewandowski. The Polish striker's move, proof that Mario Götze wasn't the last one out of the Borussia Dortmund door, obviously spells (even more) trouble for the rest of the league, but it's also evidence of how much Lewandowski loves a challenge.



A thrilling example came in Bayern's pre-season game against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Faced with two defenders and with very little room, Lewandowski had few options. With the opening on goal rapidly dwindling, defenders blocked his path, but Lewandowski, undeterred, saw space where others saw nothing and lifted the ball over the defense and the advancing goalkeeper and into the goal.



In fact, the remarkable moment started long before the sensational finish. Lewandowski's first touch, a flick away from the defender, was itself a technical masterpiece that gave him a fraction of a second to assess his options. A dummy followed, confusing the defenders, and then, from a meter behind the penalty spot, came the nonchalant finish.



A day later, Lewandowski nodded in a smart header and curled in a lovely long-range effort in a 3-0 win over VfL Wolfsburg. As tempting as it is to jump from goal to goal, Lewandowski's rise should be observed right from the start. Just like his goals, there's more to the striker than the finish.



Warsaw boyhood



Lewandowski was born in Warsaw and at the age of 16 he applied to join Legia Warsaw's first team. They said no. Lewandowski was determined though, and, having scored goals for Znicz Pruszków, he tried again. Once again, Legia said no and this time Lewandowski took matters into his own hands.



Joining Lech Poznan, Lewandowski was the second highest goalscorer in the Ekstraklasa - Poland's top flight - in his first season, and then made sure he was at the top of the pile the following season.



"Even watching videos of 'Lewy' at his first senior club Znicz Pruszkow, you can see he was destined to move onto better things," said Polish football writer Ryan Hubbard. "Raw, unfinished; but with an undoubted talent that needed just a little guidance."



That guidance came when he left Poland for Germany, and Jürgen Klopp. Initially, Lewandowski's talent remained raw at Dortmund and he was second in line to a free-scoring Lucas Barrios. But then, perhaps with Legia's rejection still in his mind, Lewandowski started to demonstrate just what he had learned from his new manager.



Taking your time



His composure improved when he took more time over his chances. In turn, he started to score more goals. Twenty-two of them came in the league in 2011/12, along with 11 assists. The following year, he added two more goals to his league haul, with seven assists to boot. In what proved to be his final season at Dortmund, Lewandowski bagged another 20 league goals - enough for the golden boot.



Klopp deserves a great deal of credit for the effect he's had on the Pole. The striker now boasts a smarter tactical brain, can press almost relentlessly and is excellent under pressure. This makes his departure, destination and lack of a fee all the harder to bear. Having fine tuned the 25-year-old's raw talent into a tenacious and composed weapon, Klopp, in his typically admirable manner, can only smile ruefully that Lewandowski's continued improvement no longer comes under his guardianship.



That smile may well appear again on August 13. In a cruel and perhaps predictable twist of fate, Lewandowski's competitive debut for Bayern Munich comes against Borussia Dortmund in the Super Cup. Based on his pre-season form and a summer free of the Brazilian heat, Lewandowski's hero-turned-villain headlines are already being written.



Changing colors



Those were written when rumors first arose that he was leaving Dortmund for Bayern, and the criticism seized on everything but the Pole's never-ending quest to prove his worth. The question of money unsurprisingly reared its ugly head and while that undoubtedly played its part, the chance to join Bayern appears more like another challenge for the Polish striker.



"He has still to stop progressing," said Hubbard, who has watched Lewandowski right from the start.



Ever since that first rejection in his hometown, the striker appears desperate to improve, regardless of the situation. Even after the transfer to Bayern was confirmed, Lewandowski responded with committed performances and more goals right until the end of his time in yellow and black. His brace on the final day of the season against Hertha, one that included a sumptuous free kick, was an apt swansong.



Mario Mandzukic, a very good striker with an excellent goalscoring record, exceeded Bavarian expectations, but still finds himself wearing red and white for a different team this season. The Croatian's defensive work is fantastic and he's a goal guarantee. But he isn't a striker to score a goal out of nothing.



That night against Real Madrid when Lewandowski reacted quickest to Marcel Schmelzer's miss-hit shot, dragged the ball back and fired into the roof of the net, the Polish striker proved why Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola wanted him in his team. Lewandowski is a complete striker. It's not just that he makes the chance for himself, it's that he takes it too.