Lewandowski has Champions League record in sight after being denied Ballon d'Or

This season has been remarkable for Robert Lewandowski, even by his very high standards, and is on the verge of getting ever better. After wrapping up the Bundesliga Golden Boot award for the third straight season, the Bayern Munich striker is now chasing down Cristiano Ronaldo's Champions League record. 

Ronaldo scored 17 goals in the 2013/14 Champions League, with Lewandowski four back. It would be a small consolation for the 31-year-old following the hasty decision to cancel this year's Ballon d'Or back in July. Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will always be in the conversation as the world's best player for as long as they are still playing, deserving or not, but Lewandowski had a legitimate claim to at least rival both for it this year. Juventus only managed one trophy this season, going backwards in Europe, and Barcelona may finish with none. Bayern, meanwhile, are on course for the treble and Lewandowski's form has been startling. 

The Poland international set the tone right from the very outset. He scored in each of Bayern's first 11 league matches, netting 16 goals in the process. Even if his season finished there, on November 9, he would have ranked third for most goals scored across the entire Bundesliga campaign, with only Timo Werner (28) and Jadon Sancho (17) netting more.

Lewandowski ended the season with 34 goals in 31 league games in Germany, two behind Lazio's Ciro Immobile in Europe's top five leagues but with the best minutes-per-goal return (15+ starts) on the continent (one goal every 81.2 minutes of action). Moreover, the 31-year-old scored as many goals as Spanish side Alaves and Italian outfit Brescia and more times than 18 other teams in Europe's major leagues. His DFB-Pokal record wasn't bad either, with seven goals in five matches as Bayern retained the trophy for only the second time in the last decade. Lewandowski has made 19 appearances in all competitions in 2020 and failed to score in just two of them.

His performances in the Champions League have been even better. In just seven appearances he has scored or assisted 17 goals (13 goals, four assists). He played a direct hand in all seven goals Bayern scored against Chelsea across both legs of their round of 16 tie. Lewandowski remarkably has as many goal contributions in Europe as the likes of Paulo Dybala, Lautaro Martinez and Roberto Firmino managed in their respective league campaigns (17). The Bayern No.9 averages a goal or an assist every 36.3 minutes in the Champions League this season. 

Lewandowski's WhoScored rating in the Champions League is 9.31. It comes as no surprise that he is therefore the best rated player in the competition, 0.72 rating points clear of any other player. There have been 12 instances of perfect WhoScored 10 ratings in the Champions League this season and Lewandowski is responsible for three of them. No other player has achieved the feat more than once. 

Lewandowski is on course to claim the highest ever WhoScored rating in a single Champions League campaign since we started obtaining Opta data 10 years ago. Across both league and European competition, Lewandowski has 47 goals in 38 matches and has scored from just less than half of his shots on target (48.5%). In fact, Lewandowski has netted as many goals as Harry Kane managed shots on target. 

Standing in Bayern's way of reaching the last four of the Champions League for just the second time in the last four years is Messi's Barcelona. Messi is Lewandowski's closest rival in terms of WhoScored rating in the Champions League this season. Even if Barcelona have floundered, and Messi hasn't been at his scintillating best, his individual statistics remain exceptional. He played a direct hand 46 goals in 33 LaLiga games, reaching 20+ goals and 20+ assists in a single league season for the first time in his career. In the Champions League he has six goals and assists in seven games but remarkably averages 8.5 dribbles per 90 - more than any other player with more than one appearance to their name.

Lewandowski needs four more goals to match Ronaldo's record haul in a Champions League campaign. Claiming a European treble would have bolstered Lewandowski's chances of winning the Ballon d'Or this year but matching Ronaldo's record, or even surpassing it, would only re-affirm suggestions he is the best in the world. Not least because UEFA have been forced to re-structure the knockout stage of the competition, removing all second-leg ties from the quarter-finals onwards. It means rather than having a maximum of five matches to equal Ronaldo's record, Lewandowski only has three. And Bayern's run to the trophy could be Barcelona, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.