Robert Lewandowski Hits Back at Critics & Reveals What Motivates Him to Improve
Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski has told his doubters to look at his goalscoring record before attempting to criticise him.
Many fans of rival clubs have accused Lewandowski, who is the fifth-highest goalscorer in Bundesliga history, of failing to perform in big games. His failure to score in either leg of last season's Champions League quarter-final or semi-final is often used as so-called proof of this opinion, but Lewandowski clearly does not agree.
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Speaking to DW, the Bayern forward insisted that his track record speaks for itself, and he has no problem hearing the criticism.
He said: "Everything is about last season. Because last season I didn’t score in the quarter-final and the semi-final because of my injury – because I was playing through pain for eight months.
"But when you see the season before and the five seasons before that, I scored a minimum of one goal in every quarter-final and semi-final. This is the difference. People sometimes see what happened yesterday not what has happened in the long run.
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"I have experienced this over so many years and have grown a thicker skin, and it gets thicker and thicker. I have learned how to deal and live with it... Sometimes it hurts but you have to handle it."
In his 233 appearances for Bayern, Lewandowski has racked up a stunning 184 goals and 47 assists, earning him a reputation as one of the world's top strikers. However, he revealed that he does not focus on such a label.
He added: "If you think you are the best in world, you are finished. You have to constantly strive to be better. When I look at football now and 20 or 30 years ago, it has grown. Football is not only about the ball; it is also what you do in training, in the gym, because people want more all the time."
Finally, he touched on Der Klassiker - Saturday's meeting between Bayern and rivals Borussia Dortmund. Lucien Favre's men currently have a two-point advantage over Bayern, but Lewandowski claimed that the result of the game will not decide the Bundesliga title.
He claimed: "I am not sure the winner will become champions. I don’t think so. Okay, the winner will take a big step, but one step will not be enough. We still have a lot of games until the end of the season and I think the winner will have to take two steps."
