Robert Lewandowski has really hit a funk, following up his mesmerizing five-goal outburst last weekend by only scoring two on Saturday. Snore.
Okay, we kid. Lewandowski’s ridiculous form has him sitting on a monstrous total of 10 goals through Bayern Munich’s first seven games.
Nobody has even scored 30 league goals in a Bundesliga season since the incredibly efficient Dieter Muller dropped 34 for FC Koln in the 1976/77 season. The only person to ever hit the 40-goal total was the legendary Gerd Muller, who hit the mark on the nose with 40 strikes in 1971/72. Lewandowski’s early goal storm puts him on pace for 48 goals this campaign.
1 - No foreign player scored 100 goals in the german @Bundesliga_EN as fast as Lewandowski (168 BL-matches). Rekord.
— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) September 26, 2015
But even at this unsustainably fast pace, there’s someone right on his heels, and at a much more methodical rate.
With two more goals today, leading Borussia Dortmund to a 2-2 draw with newly-promoted Darmstadt, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang now has nine goals in seven league matches. If that’s not enough, he also has three goals in five Europa League games and one in one in the DFP-Pokal.
And while Lewandowski is a proven goalscorer and not a player who should be doubted by any stretch, Aubameyang’s pace is a steady, fluid production that lends itself to sustainability, unlike Lewandowski’s moments of brilliance. The 26-year-old Gabonese frontman has scored in every single league match so far this season. Every. Single. One. He’s on pace for 43 Bundesliga goals this year.
On a larger scale, of all 13 matches across all competitions that Dortmund has competed this season, he’s scored in 10 of them. And it isn’t just this season that Aubameyang has begun to truly take shape; he was a massive part of the second-half recovery last campaign.
24 - In 23 BL games in 2015, @BVB's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had a hand in 24 goals (20 goals, 4 assists), most in the Bundesliga. Threat.
— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) September 27, 2015
So while the exhilarating form of Robert Lewandowski captures crowds, analysts, and fans across Europe and the world, his former teammate continues to chug along in the shadow and has Dortmund right there with Bayern Munich at the top of the table in what hopefully will shape into an entertaining title battle.
