12/07/2023
Act. a las 13:14
CEST
One of the secrets of Robert Lewandowski to be so constant in excellence is his ‘obsession’ in controlling small details. The Polish striker cares a lot about his physique, take care of your diet like no one else and constantly do injury prevention work. The results of his self-demand are spectacular: In more than 13 years of his elite career, he has only missed 26 games due to physical problems, an average of two per season. The number is absolutely incredible.
In his first season in Barcelona, ’Lewy’ he quickly cleared up any doubts about his age (34 years old). He was the offensive reference for Xavi Hernández’s team, finished the season with 33 goals and eight assists and he was only dropped five times, three of them due to the controversial sanction after his expulsion in El Sadar. Memphis Depay, who began the campaign as his substitute, changed airs in winter because he only enjoyed 206 minutes on the pitch until the World Cup in Qatar, among other issues. The vacancy left free by the Dutchman was shared between Ferran Torres and Ansu Fati.
It is nothing new that Lewandowski’s ‘auxiliary’ has very little prominence. Only in one of the eight years of the Pole at Bayern Munich did his ‘squire’ exceed 1,000 minutes. He was Choupo-Moting in the 2020/21 season (1,312 ‘). The rest of the strikers who lived in Robert’s shadow at the Allianz Arena were very far from reaching this participation figure. And all of them except one Joshua Zirkzee in the 2019/20They were veterans.
Claudio pizarro he was the first to suffer the omnipresence of the striker (374′ in 2014/15); Thomas Müller he covered his back very punctually the following two seasons, in which Bayern did not ‘waste’ a piece from the bottom of the wardrobe for the role of substitute center forward and preferred to use the wild card of the German attacking mobile; Sandro Wagner He spent two years as a replacement for Lewy, but he also failed to be regular (775′ in 2017/18, 263′ in 2018/19); Joshua Kirkzee He did a master’s degree with him in training, but he only played 311 minutes; Choupo-MotingAs we have said, it started well (1,312′ in 2020/21), but it did not continue (499′ in 2021/22).
natural succession
After the official announcement of the signing of Vitor Roque by Barçathe third of the summer, Xavi Hernández already knows that, sooner or later, he will have the blessed problem of properly managing the generational change. Whether it arrives in January 2024 or in June of the same yearthe Barcelona coach will face the difficult mission of continue competing at the highest level with Lewandowski as the ‘boss’ of his attack (has a contract until 2026) and, at the same time, boosting the growth of the young Brazilian pearl.
‘O Tigrinho’ will land on Spotify Camp Nou at the age of 18 or 19 (his birthday is February 28), so in no case will he be able to have participation numbers as low as those of ‘Lewy’s’ substitutes since he established himself as one of the most voracious ‘killers’ on the planet. Xavi’s hand, the flexibility of the Pole and the personality of the Brazilian will be absolutely decisive so that the succession is completed in the most natural way possible.
2023-07-12 11:03:36
#Barcelona #Xavis #challenge #managing #LewandowskiVitor #Roque #duo
