The Polish striker scored twice for Barcelona against Brest on Tuesday night and now has a century of goals in Europe's premier club competition
Robert Lewandowski celebrates after scoring for Barcelona against Brest in the Champions League in November 2024 (Picture: JOSEP LAGO/AFP)
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi… and Robert Lewandowski. Barcelona’s Polish striker finds himself in elite company in the Champions League after scoring twice for the Blaugrana in a 3-0 win over Brest on Tuesday night.
Lewandowski slotted in from the penalty spot inside 10 minutes to score his 100th Champions League goal and added another in stoppage time to make it 101 in 125 games: 17 in 28 at Borussia Dortmund, 69 in 78 for Bayern Munich and 15 in 19 so far with Barcelona.
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Ronaldo is the Champions League’s top scorer with 140 goals in 183 games, ahead of Messi with 129 in 163 appearances. At the age of 36, Lewandowski might not catch those two legends, but his scoring ratio of 0.81 goals per game is slightly better than both.
“I’m very content, very happy,” Lewandowski told Movistar. “Sometimes I didn’t believe I would reach this impressive figure in the Champions League.
“Now I’m in good company with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.”
Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski and Lionel Messi are the only three players to have scored 100 goals in the European Cup (Picture: MIGUEL MEDINA, CHRISTOF STACHE, JOSEP LAGO/AFP)
He certainly is and after some disappointing displays brought criticism last season, the Pole has been revisalised in 2024-25, justifying Barcelona’s big effort to bring him from Bayern in 2022 and playing his part in the club’s recent renaissance under Hansi Flick.
Together at Bayern, Lewandowski and Flick won the Champions League and the treble in 2019-20, beating Barça 8-2 in a one-sided quarter-final clash in Lisbon along the way.
Barça won LaLiga under Xavi in 2022-23, but a first Champions League crown since 2015 would mark a genuine return to the big time for the Catalan club. With 100 goals in the European Cup, Lewandowski is already a legend in the competition. Win it with Barça and he’ll be a Blaugrana great, too.
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