Harry Kane vs. Robert Lewandowski: the war of numbers 9 in Poland-England

One has lived a more than eventful summer on the side of Tottenham. The other continues to panic the counters for his seventh season at Bayern Munich. Harry Kane and Robert Lewandowski, two of today’s top scorers, have an appointment this Wednesday evening on the Warsaw lawn to engage in a duel that already promises sparks. The two captains will want to shine in a number 9 war that promises to be inevitable.

First in group I of qualifying for the next World Cup, England is currently flying over the debates. With five victories in as many games, the Three Lions, vice-champions of Europe after their final lost on penalties against Italy, finally seem to have become indomitable again. And Harry Kane is no stranger to it.

Kane, not so far from the record for national goals

Scorer in England’s last four matches in this qualifying phase, Tottenham center-forward also planted four goals during the last Euro. While he was only called up for the selection six years ago, Harry Kane (40 goals in 62 caps) has already erased several legends of the Three Lions, such as Frank Lampard (29 goals) or Alan Shearer (30 goals). In front of the 28-year-old striker, Bobby Charlton (49 goals) and Wayne Rooney (53 goals) seem within range of the gunner of the Spurs, who necessarily dreams of inscribing his name at the top of the ranking in the history of his selection.

But this summer, his image took a serious hit. Eager to leave Spurs during the transfer window, Kane was retained against his will by his management, despite several offers from Manchester City, ready to put up to 150 million euros on the table according to the most optimistic sources. After a standoff of several weeks, the second most prolific scorer in Tottenham history (223 goals), who went so far as to refuse to train to force his transfer, finally resigned: “I will stay and be 100% focused on helping the team win”, could we read on his account Twitter. Again focused on what he can do best, there is no doubt that Harry Kane noted his meeting with Robert Lewandowski with a red cross on his calendar.

Lewandowski does not leave his cloud

Because, opposite, the Pole is quite simply on another planet. Considered one, if not the best striker in the world, Robert Lewandowski, who arrived at Bayern Munich in 2014, scored 56 club and national goals in last season alone. And his 2021-2022 fiscal year begins on the same basis: author of five goals in his first three Bundesliga matches (2 wins, 1 draw), he also scored a brace to bring the German Supercup back to Munich at the start of season.

Obviously less well surrounded in the national team than in Germany, Lewandowski failed to get Poland out of the group stage of the last Euro, despite three goals in three matches. Suffice to say that he clearly has a revenge to take during these qualifications for the next World Cup. With six goals already on the clock, Bayern’s second-best scorer (301 goals), behind the unmistakable Gerd Müller, has the opportunity to put Poland within two small points of its direct opponent in its race for qualification. Especially since he was absent in the first leg, won by England on March 31 (2-1), where Kane scored from the penalty spot. There can be no doubt: the two men will be at the rendezvous this Wednesday evening (8:45 p.m.).