“Messi – Ronaldo era is over”- Spanish journalist on Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, and Robert Lewandowski ruling current football
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A day after the talk focused on Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland heralding a new era in Europe’s top competition, 34-year-old Lewandowski gently reminded everyone the old guard are not finished yet. Tuesday night’s 5-1 win saw Robert Lewandowski become the first player to score a Champions League hattrick for three different clubs, with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich being the others.
In fact, the last five Champions League hat-tricks have been scored by either Lewandowski or Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema, 34. The Barcelona striker’s 89 Champions League goals is still some way off Lionel Messi (125) and Cristiano Ronaldo (140), but he has now been directly involved in 108 goals in 107 games in the competition.
Lionel Messi has found form this season assisting five goals but not his usual goal scoring proficiency yet. Ronaldo on the other hand, isn’t even competing in Europe’s premier competition after his team Manchester United failed to finish in top-4 last season. New guns Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe both scores brace in their first Champions League fixture this season.
Now, Spanish journalist Aleix Parise has made a bold statement that Messi-Ronaldo days are over and Haaland-Mbappe are here to fight for the crown but he also took into consideration Barcelona’s Lewandowski in conversation. “We had already started to feel it last season, but this season it’s been confirmed. The Messi – Ronaldo era is over. The new ‘killers’ are Mbappe and Haaland. However, Lewandowski, at age 34, is the only player that is catching up to them.”
Robert Lewandowski made Champions League history with Barcelona hat-trick
Robert Lewandowski made history with his maiden hat-trick for Barcelona against Viktoria Plzen, becoming the first player to hit Champions League trebles for three different sides. The Poland international found the target twice in the first half at Camp Nou on Wednesday, with Franck Kessie and Plzen’s Jan Sykora also netting in a frantic opening 45 minutes.
The latter strike for Lewandowski made him the first player to ever score Champions League hat-tricks for three different teams, having previously hit trebles for Bayern Munich (four) and Borussia Dortmund (one).
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Sujeeth Shetty
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