Lewandowski returns from the break on a streak and with another record

After suffering two muscle injuries at the start of the 2025/26 season, Robert Lewandowski seems to have returned to his best physical and footballing form this November. On Tuesday, the '9' scored one of Poland's goals against Malta (2-3), a victory with which the team led by Jan Urban closed the World Cup qualifiers in the playoff zone.

The 37-year-old forward had provided an assist in the draw against the Netherlands (1-1) and, before the break, scored a hat-trick with FC Barcelona against Celta (2-4). With this, 'Lewy' returns to the Barça squad in great form, determined to definitively regain his starting position in the decisive first part of the season.

Barça will play 9 matches between November 22 and December 21, so they need the best version of Lewandowski, who has scored 7 goals in 12 games so far this season. The same number scored by Ferran Torres in 14 appearances.

Lewandowski's new record with his national team: the '9' equals Leo Messi

The goal against Malta was Robert's 88th for Poland. 34 of them have come in qualifiers, while the '9' has celebrated against 39 nations throughout his legendary career.

This is only the third player to have celebrated against a similar number of opponents, matching what Leo Messi has done. Cristiano Ronaldo, with 48 rivals, leads a list completed by Romelu Lukaku (37 with Belgium)

Lewandowski has faced 71 national teams in international matches. Only 31 of them managed to prevent the '9' from scoring against them. The Czech Republic has been the opponent that has caused the most difficulties for the Barça striker, with 7 matches without goals.

The '9', furthermore, has scored against national teams from all five continents belonging to Africa (CAF, 1), America (CONMEBOL, 1), Oceania (OFC, 1), Asia (AFC, 3), and Europe (UEFA, 33). 'Lewy' only needs to score against Central American countries (CONCACAF), something he could achieve in the next World Cup.

Robert Lewandowski seeks his third consecutive World Cup with Poland

To do so, the team led by Jan Urban must overcome the playoffs to be played on **March 26 and 31, 2026**. Poland will learn its opponent in the first single-leg knockout match this Thursday the 20th, with a total of 4 spots to be distributed among 16 teams

Lewandowski could not play in the 2014 World Cup (his team did not qualify for Brazil), but he did play in Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022. In the former, he could not score in the three group stage matches. In Qatar, he reached the round of 16, scoring a couple of goals and providing an assist.