Failure also against RB and PSG: Lewandowski is absent for weeks with a knee injury


Failure also against RB and PSG
Lewandowski is absent for weeks with a knee injury

Bitter news for Robert Lewandowski and FC Bayern Munich: The striker is out for several weeks with a ligament stretch in his knee and misses the top game against RB Leipzig and the Champions League quarter-finals. The hunt for the goal record is also over for the time being.

World footballer Robert Lewandowski will be absent from Bayern Munich for around four weeks due to a knee injury, according to the club. The star striker has contracted a ligament stretch and will therefore also be out of the top Bundesliga match against RB Leipzig and the Champions League quarter-finals against Paris, as the German record champions announced on.

The striker had traveled early from Warsaw back to Munich, where the diagnosis was made by the medical department of the German record champions. Lewandowski was substituted on Sunday evening in the 63rd minute of the success of his Polish national team against Andorra. The striker had previously scored a brace. Lewandowski therefore has to worry about the “eternal” goal record of legend Gerd Müller, who scored 40 goals in 1971/72. The Pole currently has 35 goals.

In the morning, the pictures of the world footballer had given Bayern fans hope for the all-clear. The super striker didn’t limp as he strolled across the club’s grounds. However, there has not yet been a diagnosis of the knee injury. Especially for the duel with Leipzig, Bayern, who are also banned from Alphonso Davies (red card) and Jérôme Boateng (5th yellow card), now have to think about a plan B because the irreplaceable striker is canceled.

What plan does Hansi Flick have in his pocket?

A reliable substitute would be backup Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who started four times in the Cup and Bundesliga. Top preparer Thomas Müller has also been at the forefront in the past. A classic one-to-one replacement is not the inevitable variant. Flick could also bet on the trio of Serge Gnabry, Leroy Sané and Kingsley Coman; behind that, Müller could shine in the role of template expert. The German national team recently won with an offensive trio, when Bayern stars Sané and Gnabry played up front together with Chelsea actor Kai Havertz. Gnabry, as the central player, scored the 15th goal in the 19th international match against Romania.

Poland’s association had spoken of a downtime of usually “five to ten days” for injuries of this type. This season Lewandowski was only completely spared in the Bundesliga with a 2-1 on matchday 6 against 1. FC Köln. In the cup, Munich did without the Poles in the first round win against Düren (3: 0), in the Champions League in a 1: 1 against Atlético Madrid and in a 2: 0 against Lok Moscow. Model athlete Lewandowski was last longer at the end of February 2020. At that time he missed three games due to a shin injury – that was the longest injury-related break for the goal machine as a Bayern professional.

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