Robert Lewandowski misses a penalty in Barcelona’s victory against Atlético Madrid, and unusually so. The Spanish press mocks the missed shot.
Bitter déjà vu for Robert Lewandowski! The FC Barcelona striker missed a penalty in the top match against Atlético Madrid. Ultimately, Barca won 3-1 thanks to goals from Raphinha (26th), Dani Olmo (65th) and Ferran Torres (90+6). Alex Baena initially put the guests in the lead (19th).
After a foul on ex-Leipzig player Dani Olmo, the usually reliable penalty taker Lewandowski stepped up to the spot in the 36th minute to put Barca ahead in the top game after the temporary deficit. The striker paused briefly, ran up and then slammed the ball clearly over the crossbar.
Robert Lewandowski misses a penalty against Atlético Madrid
While the Pole took a deep breath in disbelief, coach Hansi Flick’s anger was also clearly visible.
“Lewandowski against Oblak (goalkeeper Jan Oblak, editor’s note) – and against himself,” commentator Jan Platte was surprised at DAZN. Expert Benny Lauth was also astonished by the Pole’s weak shot: “You rarely see that.”
Lewandowski with decisive mistake against Sevilla
The former Bundesliga professional also recalled a scene from the Catalans’ league thrashing at FC Sevilla (1:4) from the beginning of October. “He also shot past against Sevilla recently, but so clearly over?”, Lauth wondered.
Back then, Lewandowski hadn’t shot over the goal, but had placed the possibly decisive penalty to the left of the goal at a score of 1:2 (76th minute). Sevilla goalkeeper Odisseas Vlachodimos didn’t even have to intervene there either.
Press reacts to Lewandowski’s missed shot
The Spanish press reacts immediately after the 37-year-old’s missed shot.
“INTO THE CLOUDS! My goodness, what a penalty… The Pole shot it terribly. Into the second tier. He stares at the turf, but nothing unusual has happened. It was just a terrible penalty,” it said in the Spanish Marca’s live ticker. And the Barcelona-based newspaper Mundo Deportivo wrote: “Terrible shot by the Pole, who opts for power instead of placement.”
Unusually weak Lewandowski statistics
What was particularly noticeable before the penalty against Atlético was Lewandowski’s run-up. “You’ve been seeing for some time that the run-up has changed, there’s no longer that typical ‘Lewandowski hop’,” commentator Platte noted.
With his unique run-up, Lewandowski was a feared penalty taker during his time at FC Bayern Munich. In this way, he converted a total of 89 penalties in his career.
Since his move to FC Barcelona, his statistics have looked much bleaker. Although the Pole scored from the spot against Celta Vigo at the beginning of November, Lewandowski has missed four of his twelve penalties in La Liga since 2022.
Only Iago Aspas and Vedat Muriqi (both four) had failed as often as Lewandowski at the time of the game against Sevilla during this period.
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