Robert Lewandowski was the absolute star on Tuesday evening in the Champions League during the monster score against Red Bull Salzburg, but the Bayern Munich striker nevertheless faced considerable criticism afterwards. The 33-year-old Pole has still not renewed his contract and recently let slip that he does not appreciate enough of of the Rekordmeister feels.
Bayern Munich qualified for the quarterfinals of the Champions League with great force majeure, partly thanks to a hat trick by Lewandowski. After a 1-1 draw in the first leg against Red Bull Salzburg, the battle was not yet over, but the team won in front of its own audience. by Julian Nagelsmann on Tuesday evening 7-1. Robert Lewandowski scored three goals within 23 minutes: the earliest Champions League hat-trick of all time. Yet there was not only praise for the Polish goal-scoring machine.
An extension of his contract expiring in 2023 does not appear to be on the agenda yet. Before Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga match with Eintracht Frankfurt (0-1 win), Hasan Salihamidzic spoke about Lewandowski’s contract situation. The sporting director said he would like to keep the striker for Bayern, where Lewandowski then faced Sky Deutschland annoyed at responded. “Well, that’s the first time I hear that.”
The attitude of Lewandowski went wrong on Tuesday evening for former player Mario Basler, who scored for Bayern in the Champions League final in 1999. “How much appreciation do you want?”, the former player wondered angrily during the broadcast of Sports1† “The people in charge constantly speak positively about him, give him the signal that they want to renew and he earns by far the most money.”
He gets a feather in his ass every day from Bayern Munich,” continued Basler. “What else do you want them to do? That they cut your toenails? Even Gerd Müller and Franz Beckenbauer did not receive as much appreciation as Lewandowski. In Bayern’s existence, no one has been more valued than him. “He has to say now, ‘I’m renewing for two years and then I’ll stop.’”