Lewandowski delighted to join Ronaldo and Messi with Champions League ton

Robert Lewandowski was delighted to join Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as a Champions League centurion in Barcelona’s 3-0 win over Brest.

Lewandowski scored twice either side of a Dani Olmo strike as Barca ran out 3-0 victors, leapfrogging the French side in the standings as they moved to 12 points from five games.

The Poland international is just the third player to score 100 goals in the Champions League, after Ronaldo (140) and Messi (129).

The Barca striker, however, took the fewest shots (451) to reach the milestone, with Messi needing 527 to get there, and Ronaldo 793.

Lewandowski netted 17 times in the competition for Borussia Dortmund, 69 times for Bayern Munich and now 15 times for the Blaugrana. Meanwhile, 22 of his Champions League goals have come under Hansi Flick.

“I’m very happy, very happy. 101 goals in the Champions League is great number,” Lewandowski told Movistar Plus after the game.

“I didn’t think I could score so many goals in the Champions League. To join Messi and Ronaldo… I guess they are good, right?”

In all competitions this season, Lewandowski has now scored 22 goals in 19 appearances – nine more than any other LaLiga player.

Indeed, he is only four goals shy of his final tally for last season (26 in 49 games).

Barca, meanwhile, are the fifth team to win four successive European Cup/Champions League matches by at least three goals, after Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 (five), Bayern in 2020 and 2021 (four on both occasions), Leeds United in 1969 (four) and Reims in 1958 (four).

Their victory came on the back of a disappointing pair of results in LaLiga, where a 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad and a 2-2 draw with Celta Vigo have allowed Real Madrid to cut their lead at the summit.

“We haven’t been playing well in LaLiga lately, but we have a lot of games to play yet. We just have to be patient, we’ll score more goals in the end,” Lewandowski added.

“We’re looking to win every game. If I can score goals to help the team, all the better. We have to win every game until the end of the season.”

Head coach Flick heaped praise upon Lewandowski, also saying Barca deserved the three points after racking up 19 shots worth 2.86 expected goals (xG) while limiting Brest to two, worth 0.07 xG.

“Lewandowski is great, I’m delighted with his goals. I think Lewandowski knows he has to score and he is in the position to do it, but the important thing is what the team generates,” Flick said.

“Obviously, he knows he has to score and he plays for it, but what this team does is just wonderful.

“I’m very happy. We deserved it, winning by three goals but we could have scored more, but I’m happy either way because delivering a performance like this after Vigo is just great.”