Lewandowski scored thrice as Bayern beat Eintracht Frankfurt 5-0 at the Commerzbank-Arena to claim the trophy. The 29-year-old is said to be keen for a new challenge, prompting some to criticise his level of commitment. Muller thinks his team-mate’s display was the perfect response and shows why Bayern have been resolute in their refusal to sell.
“That was a great response from him to the criticism,” said Muller. “He showed his quality again, although he does not have to prove his class to anyone. We have to see that he is at 100 per cent, and then he is enormously important to us. And that’s why the club are not letting him go.”
Sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic also praised the performance of Lewandowski in light of the uncertainty over his future.
“Lewandowski is, for me, one of the best, if not the best striker in the world. He showed that again. He’s a professional. That was the right reaction, that’s what I wanted him to do,” he said.
After being the top scorer in the third and second tiers of Polish football with Znicz Pruszków, he moved to top-flight Lech Poznań, and was the top scorer in the league as they won the 2009–10 Ekstraklasa. In 2010, he transferred to Borussia Dortmund for a reported €4.5 million, where he won honours including two consecutive Bundesliga titles and a season as the league’s top goalscorer. In 2013, he earned with Borussia a spot in the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final, a tournament in which he was the second top goalscorer, behind only Cristiano Ronaldo.
Prior to the start of the 2014–15 season, Lewandowski agreed to join their rivals, Bayern Munich, on a free transfer.In Munich, he won the Bundesliga title in each of his first three campaigns, earning a spot in the Bundesliga Team of the Year in every season. In 2015–16, he led the league in goalscoring with 30 goals, and in 2016–17 he was named the Bundesliga Player of The Year. He was named to the UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season on each of the last two seasons. He has totalled over 170 goals in Germany’s top division, Bundesliga, and reached the century mark quicker than any other foreign player. On 22 September 2015, Lewandowski scored five goals against VfL Wolfsburg in nine minutes, the fastest in any major European football league since records have been kept.
A full international for Poland since 2008, Lewandowski has earned over 90 caps and was a member of their team at Euro 2012 and Euro 2016. With 55 international goals, Lewandowski is the all-time top scorer for Poland. In 2015, he was voted Polish Sportspersonality of the Year and in 2016 he claimed fourth place at the 2015 FIFA Ballon d’Or Awards. He has been named the Polish Player of the Year a record seven times. The Guardian has ranked him as the fifth-best footballer on the planet in 2015.