Robert Lewandowski: his goals, his records

BERLIN: Robert Lewandowski, who on Saturday equalled the

Bundesliga

record of 40 goals in a season, is no stranger to reaching and breaching goal-scoring milestones.

The 32-year-old has scored over 500 goals for his clubs and country since starting his career in the Polish leagues in 2007/08.

AFP Sports looks at some of the Poland striker's record-breaking goal feats:
* Lewandowski exploded onto the European scene by scoring all four goals for ex-club Dortmund in a 4-1 rout of

Real Madrid

in April 2013 in the Champions League semi-final, first leg. He remains the only player to score four times in a single game in the last four of the Champions League. Dortmund went on to lose the 2013 final in London to Lewandowski's future employers Bayern, who he joined in 2014.



* The Poland striker has scored a total of 73 goals in the Champions League, leaving him behind only the likes of Lionel Messi (120) and Cristiano Ronaldo (134).

* With Bayern 1-0 down at home to Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga on September 22 2015, Lewandowski came off the bench at half-time and earned four Bundesliga records with five goals in just under nine electrifying minutes. Bayern's then-coach

Pep Guardiola

watched on the sidelines in amazement as Lewandowski's rapid-fire scoring claimed records for league's fastest hat-trick, four- and five-goal salvos and most goals by a substitute -- all in just eight minutes, 59 seconds. "I didn't have too much time to think about what I had done," Lewandowski said following the 5-1 win having later been presented with four certificates by Guinness World Records, who had verified his German league records.

* Lewandowski netted a hat-trick as

Bayern Munich

trashed Werder Bremen 6-0 on the opening day of the 2016/17 season, becoming the fastest player to score 50 Bundesliga goals for one club. He needed just 64 games.

* Lewandowski's two goals in a 6-0 thrashing of Wolfsburg in October 2018 saw him over-take Peru's Claudio Pizarro, who scored 197 times, as the top-scoring foreigner in Bundesliga history. Lewandowski has since gone on to score a total of 276 goals from 349 games in Germany's top flight.

* Another two goals for Bayern Munich, this time in a 4-0 win against his ex-club Dortmund in November 2019, saw Lewandowski set a new record as the first player to score in the first 11 Bundesliga games of a season.

* When Bayern Munich won the 2019/20 treble of Bundesliga, German Cup and Champions League titles, Lewandowski became the first player to simultaneously be top-scorer in all three competitions. His 34 Bundesliga goals, 15 in the Champions League and six in the German Cup came from 47 games as he went on to be voted

FIFA

's best male player of 2020, seeing off superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to scope the award.