Lewandowski making a difference and back to scoring goals

People have had the audacity to start questioning Robert Lewandowkski, saying that he has lost some of the magic of his first few games in the blaugrana jersey. Sunday night was reminder that such suggestions are nonsense.

End to 'bad' run

After returning from the Qatar World Cup, where he scored two goals in four games, some were saying that the Polish striker had entered a goalscoring 'crisis'. Going into the game with Cádiz, he had failed to score in three games, and in six games at Spotify Camp Nou he had not only scored none, but he hadn't given any assists either.

But the way he whip-lashed in the second goal against Cádiz on Sunday suggested that Lewandowski has not lost his touch at all. But his clenched first in celebration did suggest a certain relief to have ended a temporary drought. He hadn't gone for four games without scoring since 2018, when he was at Bayern Munich. That run actually ran for five games, two in the Bundesliga against Hertha Berlin and Borussia Mönchengladbach, one in the Champions League against Ajax and two more in the Nations League for Poland against Portugal and Italy.

Unbeatable start

Part of the problem is that people had grown so used him scoring that it seemed wrong when he didn't. But since returning from the World Cup, he has still scored six goals and given two assists in ten games. That's not bad for a supposed crisis!

He started the season scoring 11 goals and giving two assists in his first eight games. That was outstanding, but it was simply ridiculous to expect him to keep up that kind of rate for a whole season! Even the greatest strikers have the occasional dry spell.

Third of the goals

He has scored 15 goals in 19 appearances so far in La Liga. That's exactly a third of the team's 45 goals.

He rate in European fixtures, where he has claimed five of the 14 European goals that the blaugrana have scored this season, is slightly better. And where we would all most dearly like to see him add to his collection is at Old Trafford on Thursday, Barça's biggest challenge on the immediate horizon.