Barcelona once begged Lewandowski... not to score

In his new book, striker Lewandowski revealed that Barcelona's board of directors once asked him not to score any more goals in the final matches of the season. So what was the reason?

Lewandowski received an offer not to score more goals in the last two matches of the 2022-2023 season - Photo: REUTERS

This shocking information was revealed in the biography of striker Lewandowski. The book describes in detail the incident that took place when there were only two rounds left in La Liga 2022-2023, the season in which Barcelona was officially crowned under the leadership of coach Xavi Hernandez.

According to the story, Lewandowski had a meeting with some members of the Barcelona board of directors, including President Joan Laporta. At that time, the Polish striker was leading the list of top scorers with 23 goals.

At the meeting, a board member spoke frankly: "Robert Lewandowski, we need you to stop scoring in the last two games."

As for the Polish striker himself, he was extremely surprised by this unprecedented request throughout his peak football career.

The reason behind this seemingly absurd offer stems entirely from Barcelona's financial burden.

Lewandowski's transfer contract from Bayern Munich in 2022 includes a clause that stipulates that Barcelona will have to pay an additional €2.5 million bonus to Bayern if Lewandowski reaches or exceeds the 25-goal mark in a season.

With the La Liga title already secured, Barca's board are said to have decided to ask their star to "hold back" from scoring any more goals to avoid triggering the aforementioned costly bonus clause.

The autobiography 'Lewandowski. Prawdziwy' was written by journalist Sebastian Staszewski - Photo: Screenshot

In fact, Lewandowski did not score any more goals in the last two matches of the 2022-2023 season, although he still played the full 90 minutes in both matches. At the end of the season, he won the Golden Boot award with 23 goals, ahead of his competitor Karim Benzema (Real Madrid).

In addition to the incident involving the goal and the add-on clause, the biography also provides another anecdote to illustrate the precarious economic situation at Camp Nou.

On a team trip, Lewandowski noticed that the menu had too little meat and fish. When he asked the chef about the shortage, the answer he received was: "We have to save money."

TUAN LONG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/barcelona-tung-nan-ni-lewandowski-khong-ghi-ban-20251120133315579.htm