After failing to score in the first four meetings, three in the 2018 edition, and one in the current one, against Mexico (0-0), even missing a penalty, Lewandowski ‘breathed with relief’ in the 82nd minute.
At the Education City Stadium, in Al Rayyan, the FC Barcelona striker took advantage of a failure in the Saudi defense to isolate himself and beat Mohammed Al Owais, then scoring the second goal for the Poles, after, at 39, having assisted Piotr Zielinski.
Winner of the ‘Golden Boot’ in 2020/21 (41 goals) and 2021/22 (25), seven times top scorer in the ‘Bundesliga’ and second best in the competition’s history, ‘king’ of the ‘Champions’ scorers in 2019 /20 and third on the historic list, the Pole needed 442 minutes, excluding injury time, to score in a World Cup.
Lewandowski, the current top scorer in the Spanish League (13 goals), only made his debut in 2018, since, after the presence in 2006, in which he did not participate (he was playing in Poland’s third tier), the Poles failed to qualify for the editions of 2010, in South Africa, and 2014, in Brazil.
Four years ago, still a Bayern Munich player – which he represented from 2014/15 to 2021/22, after four seasons at Borussia Dortmund (2010/11 to 2013/14) -, he made his debut on June 19, in Moscow, against Senegal, and in the worst way.
The Poles lost 2-1 to the Africans, in a match in which it was Grzegorz Krychowiak who scored the goal for the Europeans, who were then already losing by 2-0.
If the first game didn’t go well, the second, five days later, in Kazan, was even worse, as Poland lost 3-0 to Colombia, leaving them with no chance of qualifying for the round of 16.
In the last meeting, on June 28, in Volgograd, Robert Lewandowski played, for the third time, the 90 minutes, and added the first victory, but without scoring, since the triumph was materialized by Jan Bednarek, in the 59th minute.
As ‘The Best’, FIFA’s award for the best of the year he received in 2020 and 2021, the Polish forward returned to the World Cup in Qatar, in 2022, and has not yet gone to the fourth game that he managed to score his debut.
On Tuesday, at the 974 Stadium, in Doha, the 34-year-old even had a great opportunity, when Poland benefited from a penalty, in the 58th minute, but then failed in the one-on-one with the Mexican Guillermo Ochoa, who defended.
The failure cost Poland two points, which tied to zero, but Lewandowski did not come ‘defeated’ for the second round and, today, in Al Rayyan, against Saudi Arabia, the ‘executioner’ of Argentina (2-1 in the first round ), did not stop trying for the goal.
In the 39th minute, he did not score, but still managed to assist Piotr Zielinski, he saw the left post return a ‘failed’ shot, in the 66th minute, but, in the 82nd minute, he finally scored the goal, isolated, after a failure by the Saudi defense .
Lewandowski, who in Europeans had scored five goals in 11 games, spread over the editions of 2012, 2016 and 2020, did not hide his emotion and cried, with happiness, with relief. He already has, finally, a goal in the World Cup.