Lewandowski allowed to return to Bayern

Robert Lewandowski has been granted permission to leave the Poland squad and return to Bayern Munich.

The Bundesliga champions announced on Sunday that the 28-year-old striker will head back to Germany for an extended break and will not be involved in Monday’s friendly against Slovenia.

“They have played a lot of games for their clubs and need rest,” Polish Football Association spokesman Jakub Kwiatkowski said, having confirmed that Monaco’s Kamil Glik and Borussia Dortmund’s Lukasz Piszczek will also head back to their clubs.

The news is a boost to Carlo Ancelotti, whose side meet Borussia Dortmund in a crunch Bundesliga clash next Saturday.

Lewandowski scored two late goals for Poland in their 3-0 World Cup qualifying win over Romania on Friday after he had almost been hit by an exploding object on the pitch earlier in the second half.

The match was delayed for close to 10 minutes as Lewandowski received treatment on the pitch following the incident, in which a missile thrown from the crowd – which looked to be a flare or firecracker – exploded near his feet.

“My ears were ringing at first,” he said after the victory. “It took a few minutes [to stop]. Luckily, nothing really happened.”