In case you didn’t know, Robert Lewandowski is ridiculously good at football.
Going into Barcelona‘s Champions’ League group stage opener at home to Viktoria Plzen, the Polish striker had bagged five goals in just four La Liga games.
The €45 million signing from Bayern Munich was born to ripple the back of the net and at Camp Nou on Wednesday evening, he bagged his first hat-trick for the Blaugrana in a resounding 5-1 victory.
Lewandowski’s first of the evening came in the opening 45 minutes of play and it was an absolute beauty to put Barcelona 2-0 ahead after Franck Kessie’s headed opener.
The 34-year-old controlled the ball on the edge of the box and then caressed it into the far corner with his trusty right peg.
Video: Lewandowski’s first goal vs Plzen
Stunning, absolutely stunning.
Lewandowski struck again just before the half-time break in Catalonia, the goal coming shortly after the visitors had pulled one back through Jan Sykora.
A brilliant cross from a determined Ousmane Dembele found Barcelona’s new talisman unmarked at the back post and he simply nodded the ball into an empty net.
Video: Lewandowski’s second goal after great work from Dembele
Dembele looks a different player this season under Xavi Hernandez’s rule, doesn’t he? Defenders across Europe, beware.
Lewandowski then decided to top his first goal of the evening after the half-time interval to put Barcelona into a very comfortable 4-1 lead.
Poland’s record scorer picked up the ball in a dangerous position and then fired it from range into the corner with deadly precision.
The Plzen goalkeeper didn’t stand a chance…
Video: Lewandowski’s beautiful hat-trick goal
What. A. Player.
Lewandowski has now scored 89 goals in the Champions League and it’s only a matter of time before he joins the ‘100 club’, with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo currently the only members.
Ferran Torres completed the scoring with a stunner of his own in what was a perfect start for Barcelona to their 2022/23 Champions League campaign.
With Lewandowski firing on all cylinders already, the Catalan side are going to be tough to stop in Europe this season…
