Last updated on .From the section Champions League

No player has scored more goals than Lewandowski in 2019

Every club wants a 20-goals-a-season striker but not many get one who has that many before it is even Halloween.

Bayern Munich have.

Robert Lewandowski scored twice as the Bundesliga giants beat Olympiakos 3-2 in the Champions League on Tuesday, taking the Poland international's tally for club and country in 2019-20 to an incredible 21 goals in just 17 games.

The 31-year-old's scintillating form has prompted many on social media to ask the question: is he the best number nine in the world right now?

Lewandowski >>>>> Messi and Ronaldo?

It is hard to argue with the statistics, certainly in 2019 anyway.

This year, no other player has scored more goals for their club than Lewandowski. Not Cristiano Ronaldo. Not Lionel Messi.

Goals in top five leagues in 2019 Rank Player Games Goals 1 Robert Lewandowski 36 36 2 Lionel Messi 36 32 3 Kylian Mbappe 32 29 4 Sergio Aguero 35 29 5 Raheem Sterling 39 27 17 Cristiano Ronaldo 29 18

This season he has been phenomenal, particularly at club level.

He has scored 18 goals in his 13 appearances in all competitions, at least six more than any other player in the big-five European leagues and has scored in each of Bayern's last 12 games.

In fact he has only failed to score in one game for Bayern this term - the 2-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the German Super Cup back on 3 August.

Lewandowski has also hit two hat-tricks this season - one for Bayern and one for Poland.

Goals in top five leagues in 2019-20 season Player Games in all competitions Goals Robert Lewandowski 13 18 Raheem Sterling 13 12 Andrea Belotti 14 11 Ciro Immobile 9 10 Sergio Aguero 10 10

In good company

Lewandowski's two goals in the Champions League on Tuesday moved him above Ruud van Nistelrooy in Champions League top scorer charts.

But he still has some way to go to match Messi and Ronaldo's exploits in the competition.

Champions League top scorers Player Goals Cristiano Ronaldo 127 Lionel Messi 112 Raul 71 Karim Benzema 60 Robert Lewandowski 57

Lewandowski's stunning stats down to a volcano?

Lewandowski couldn't fly to Blackburn nine years ago because of an ash cloud

At 31, Lewandowski is probably unlikely to catch either Messi or Ronaldo but his goalscoring statistics, particularly at an age when some players are past their best, are hugely impressive.

But Lewandowski's career could have taken a very different trajectory if not for a volcano preventing him from joining Blackburn from Polish side Lech Poznanback in April 2010.

The eruption of an Icelandic volcano nine years ago and the ash cloud that it created resulted in his flight to England's north-west being cancelled.

"I couldn't go because of the cloud. It was the volcano. The volcano with the ash cloud," Lewandowski, who eventually signed for Borussia Dortmund in June 2010, told the Times. external-link

"It was one week and nobody could fly in Europe. The flight was booked, but we couldn't leave. It changed my life. If I had gone to Blackburn maybe I would have stayed there."

What might have been...

What do you think?

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