Despite being 36 years of age, Robert Lewandowski is having an incredible start to this 2024-25 season. The Barcelona superstar has already scored 9 goals in 10 appearances across all competitions.
There is no doubt that the Pole is one of the most important players for Hansi Flick. The German tactician is once again getting the best out of the Polish striker after having worked with him previously at Bayern Munich.
The Spanish media outlet, SPORT, has highlighted a key aspect of Flick’s management that is enabling him to maximize Lewandowski’s performance.
According to the report, the Pole has started all ten of Barcelona’s games under Flick but has completed the full ninety minutes in only four of them, being substituted before the final whistle on six occasions.
In the 2023-24 season, Xavi fielded Lewandowski in 49 matches, starting him in 44 and bringing him on as a substitute in only five. Out of those 49 games, he was substituted in 14 instances, one of which was due to injury.
As a result, while Xavi substituted Lewandowski for rest in only 26% of his games, Flick has already taken him out for rest in 60% of his matches.
With these six substitutions, the Barcelona striker has played 96 minutes less than he would have played if he remained in these games till the final whistle. Furthermore, Flick has also taken a significant defensive burden off the Pole, which allows him to focus all his energies on scoring goals.
These efforts from Flick are also helping him get the best out of his €15m-rated Barcelona ace. This is clear from his average of scoring a goal every 89 minutes, while under Xavi he scored a goal once every 189 minutes.
