Robert Lewandowski swapped perennial winners Bayern Munich for crisis club Barcelona last summer. After winning 10 Bundesliga titles (two for Borussia Dortmund, then eight at Bayern), the Poland striker wanted a new challenge. He wanted to help take Barca back to the top of Spanish and European football. In an interview with ESPN’s Martin Ainstein, he speaks about swapping Bavaria for the Catalan coast, the process Barca are undertaking under coach Xavi Hernandez, Gaudiola and Carlo Ancelotti.
You have achieved almost everything in your career. How do you keep going?
Lewandowski: After so many years in one league, in one country, I think I achieved everything I could achieve. I’m very glad about what I won with Bayern Munich, what I achieved there. But in the end, you’re thinking not only about football [in terms of] football, but you’re thinking about football as your life. And at one point I thought: ‘OK, I have achieved everything, I have a comfort zone there, but in the end what makes me more happy?’ I [thought] maybe I need a change.
There is a phrase that says if you are too comfortable in a place, move somewhere where you have challenges.
For sure. I had one moment [when I realised] I didn’t feel what I felt before. I was afraid if I didn’t change something, that this energy, this love for football that was going the wrong way, that would go down more. I know I am 34 years old now, but it’s only a number because I know I can still play at a high level for a few years.
Xavi Hernandez gave you many compliments a couple of days ago. He said you changed the club’s mentality. Why did he say that?
When I came to Barcelona, in my head the only challenge is to win, it doesn’t matter who we are playing, it’s to win, to score goals. Of course, at Barcelona, I have to decide what is sometimes more important: to score the goal or to win the game. I know that Barca needed time after a difficult few seasons but also that titles are important. So, the first thing is always that with the club we have to improve. We have to make the next step to not only play better, but to win more.
I saw the potential in the team even if two years ago Barcelona had big problems. But now, I’m sure that everything we are doing, how hard we are working … in the end we will achieve our goals. Even still, for example, we had the problems in the Champions League and this is what we have to think about, what we can do better next season. It’s a process and it’s impossible to change [everything] in one week or one month. You need more time.
Right now Barcelona are winning games that in the past they didn’t. A lot of 1-0s. But the philosophy is not necessarily seen in those games. What do you think about this?
We are in a process and you cannot change or build everything, you have to be focused first to build a very strong defence. And defensively we’re playing well, but offensively maybe we have a lot to change to play better football, to create more chances and score even more goals. The most important thing is to win the game. The next step will be to [create] more [chances] and score more goals, but to still [remain strong] defensively. It’s also about the mentality. We have to still be focused on defensive [qualities], but we have to risk more. We cannot be afraid because in attack, and if you know that the back is safe, it’s easier to decide: ‘OK, I can take risks, I can try something new.’
Let’s talk about coaches, you have had some of the best. What is the best thing about Jurgen Klopp, for example?
His personality. He is the guy who can be like a father, the guy that can help you all the time, but also he’s the guy who can try to push you. This is the guy who you can go to him, speak with him. We are all human, we all have problems. He’s not only the coach, he is the guy who … you can learn from him, also [about] life. I learned a lot under him.
Guardiola. What is special about him?
Pep is the coach who changed my mind about football. Sometimes I don’t know if it’s good or not, because sometimes I’m thinking that maybe if I am stupid, that it’s easier to play because [now] I see too much. I think too much and I see too much sometimes during the game. But that helped me a lot also, if I see and I can change things and [communicate that to] my teammates: ‘They’re playing like this, so maybe we change also our movement, our style or system.’
I was working with Pep for two years and I spoke with him a lot. I remember one day he said to me, ‘I can help you only with how to build the action, how to build up with the ball, to bring the ball to the box. But what you are going to do with the ball, I can’t help you because you know better than me. But everything until the box, I can help you because I know how to build it up, how to change the sides, how to move the position … everything. But in the end you are better than me. So you decide.’
And Carlo Ancelotti?
He’s the guy who gave me amazing self-confidence. He gave me maybe what I missed and he gave me the self-confidence that I didn’t have before. He’s an amazing human. He’s the guy who takes care of you.
You’re talking about people who are being human with you at the same time as they want you to perform. They see that the key is to connect with a human being.
That’s true. Sometimes people forget that we are human and think we are a machine, robots, that we cannot have bad feelings, a bad mood. People can think we are the product, that we’re going to training, to the game and we don’t do anything else. It’s not correct. OK, we got the talent, we’re working very hard to be where we are, that is one thing, but also we’re coming back [home], we have a family, we have kids, we have problems, we have to do these kind of things that everyone does every day. We can have bad moments. Sometimes it’s like that something inside you feel, but you don’t know what it is exactly.
Did you have these dark moments in your life?
I had a few moments in my life, for sure. It’s not like my way [has been] easier. It was also painful at times. But even when I had these [dark] moments and I was thinking: ‘Come on, what’s going on?’ I try, I do, but something doesn’t work. You have to be patient, you have to think: ‘OK, if you work hard, if you are focused on football, think about what you can do better, faster, fight for a better performance…’ I have to fight, I have to try. Maybe a solution [arrives]. Maybe I will be lucky. Maybe I get a ball from someone who makes a mistake and I have to be ready.