Lewandowski talks Lamine, Champions League, Barcelona, future – ‘I feel very strong’ | OneFootball

Robert Lewandowski recently turned 37 years old, and later tonight, he could be making his 150th appearance for FC Barcelona when they take on Valencia at Estadi Johan Cruyff.

With his contract expiring in 2026, there is a belief that the veteran centre-forward could be playing his final season with the club.

The striker recently sat down for an interview with The Times, during which he discussed his future, among other things, including his Barça teammate Lamine Yamal and his relationship with young talents at the club.

On what’s next for Lewandowski

Discussing his future and what lies ahead for himself, Lewandowski said he has “two or three more years at a good level.”

The Poland captain insisted that he feels sharp and fit, and that despite being 37, he does not feel that he is on the decline.

“I feel very strong,” he said. “If you see on paper what I do in the training sessions, the physical tests, I am at a similar level to what I was before.

“Many people make that mistake about me, that at 37 I am going down. Still, I know I can be on the top, and physically I don’t see or feel I have to catch the young players. The opposite. They have to catch me.”

On Lamine Yamal

Throughout his career, Lewandowski has played with top young talents, be it at Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, or now at Barcelona.

But the striker claimed that he had never seen someone like Lamine Yamal, who made a big impression on the veteran from his first training session at the age of 15.

“I saw it in the first training session, Lamine was 15 years old,” Lewandowski said. “It was the end of the season, and some players were trying [out]. He was playing against an experienced left back, and he did whatever he wanted against him.

“I’ve seen a lot of good players, but they needed time. With Lamine, I saw something that didn’t need time. I’ve never seen that talent at that age.”

Asked what advice he gives Yamal, Lewandowski said: “The huge challenge for him will be not next year, or the year after, but three years or even later, to find the mental things to still be hungry.”

Lewandowski is amazed by Lamine. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

“It’s not his fault how the world looks now, but for him it can be tough to keep this feeling of how he plays in the garden, with the expectation, the attention on social media. You have so many games, it is so intense.

“Nobody at this age in ten or 15 years can keep the feeling that Lamine has. Even 5 per cent less in five years means you can’t handle it. I have doubts that when you start playing at 16 now, you can play 20 years at the top level.”

On the current crop of youngsters

It must be noted that there were reports of some minor issues between Lewandowski and Lamine early on, and the striker chalks it up to the difference between generations and how the current crop of youngsters do not like to be ‘shouted at’.

Explaining in detail about how his relationship with the club’s youngsters is and how he deals with them, Lewandowski said:

“I have to say it was a huge challenge. I was coming from a different generation, and I had to learn how to, not think like a teenager, but think how I can try to take the best of what they have.

“I have been in football for four decades so when I compare them, not even to my generation but the generation before me, when I was starting, it is completely different.”

Continuing, he added: “Like shouting used to be a way to motivate everyone. Now, if you shout too much, this generation, their reaction is not the same. It’s not, ‘now I will show you are wrong’.

“No, now you have to explain another way. You have to do lots of talking. They don’t like being shouted at. Now you have to take more of the mental part of football. It’s not just players, it’s people, it’s this generation. I didn’t want to fight it. I had to learn.”

On the UEFA Champions League

Barcelona have made it abundantly clear that winning the UEFA Champions League is the ultimate goal for the team this season, especially after last season’s disappointment, when they were eliminated from the competition at the semi-final stages by Inter Milan.

“I think if we played in the final we would have had a huge chance to win this Champions League. But that’s football. You can miss the last step,” Lewandowski said, reflecting on the UCL defeat.

Looking ahead to the new season, he included Barcelona among the contenders to lift the trophy in Budapest on 30 May and dismissed the notion that Premier League teams are the ones to beat due to their heavy spending.

“They are among the favourites as well but you still have Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG… in the Premier League, they pay a lot. You see the players they are buying for big prices when players don’t even have one good season,” he said.

“You are young, you score ten goals in six months and some club will pay 60 or 70 million. Before, you had to achieve something. But you never know if the price they pay brings the quality they want.”

Barcelona will in fact begin their Champions League campaign next Thursday at St James’ Park against Newcastle United.

Curiously, Lewandowski has a personal link with the Premier League club going back to his childhood in Poland.

“When I was growing up, I remember I had the jersey of Newcastle, with Shearer No. 9 on the back,” he said.

“It was a family present and I wore it a lot because at the time he was right on the top. Of course, I did the celebration as well, it was unique.”