Scoring impact! Lewandowski reveals a shocking story: "Barcelona" once asked him to stop scoring to avoid paying a bonus to Bayern.
Robert Lewandowski, Barcelona's striker, revealed a shocking story about his first season with "Barca," claiming that club executives asked him to reduce his goal scoring towards the end of the 2022-23 season to avoid paying a bonus to Bayern Munich.
The Polish national striker moved from Bayern to join Barca in July 2022 for around 45 million euros, plus additional conditions, after a highly successful eight seasons with the famous German club.
Despite just joining the team, Lewandowski adapted quickly, scoring 23 goals in 34 La Liga appearances and playing a key role in leading Barcelona to their first league title since Lionel Messi left the club in 2021.
Lewandowski’s arrival came at a time when Barcelona was facing severe financial problems. Club president Joan Laporta had to implement various financial measures, known as “financial levers,” to avoid breaching La Liga's salary cap rules.
Lewandowski told Poland’s Radio Zet that he was aware of the club’s situation and understood the reasons behind the request for personal sacrifice, mainly concerning the performance bonus Barcelona owed Bayern if he reached a certain number of goals.
“I don’t want to talk much about this. I have great respect for Barcelona and everyone working there,” he said.
“I understand the club’s situation well. There are many times when you have to sacrifice something personally for the benefit of the club.”
“In short, it was about the bonus paid based on the number of goals I scored, and at that time, Barcelona was trying to save every euro. That bonus wasn’t a small amount. For me, it didn’t change much, so I didn’t have a problem with it.”
When asked if he complied with the request, Lewandowski said, “Let’s just say… it stayed in your mind. Even if it was just a small percentage, it was enough to make me hesitate about whether I should score or not.”
“And at a high level of football, that’s enough. Sometimes just 5% or even 3% can decide whether you win or score a goal.”
This season, Lewandowski has already scored 8 goals in La Liga, with Hansi Flick’s team leading the table, ahead of Real Madrid.