Over the last decade, we’ve seen no shortage of world-class strikers wearing the number 9 jersey. Luis Suarez‘s time at Barcelona comes to mind, as do the brilliant performances of Karim Benzema at Real Madrid and Erling Haaland at Manchester City.
However, in the eyes of Barcelona’s coach, Hansi Flick, the best number 9 over the past 10 years is Robert Lewandowski.
Flick made this statement after Barcelona’s 1-0 win against Getafe in La Liga yesterday, where Lewandowski scored the decisive goal in the 19th minute. This marked his 7th goal in 7 league matches this season.
Under Flick’s leadership, Barcelona has won all of their first seven matches this season. Before him, only three coaches—Jose Manuel Diaz (Sporting Gijon, 1979), Vanderlei Luxemburgo (Real Madrid, 2005), and Gerardo Martino (Barcelona, 2013)—had managed the same feat in their debut season in Spain’s top division.
Despite missing seven regular starters, Barcelona dominated Getafe with 80% possession and 16 attempts on goal. However, the team missed several scoring opportunities.
After the match, Flick praised Lewandowski, saying, “In my eyes, he is the best number 9 of the last decade. His job is to be in front of goal, and he’s doing an excellent job. The team creates the chances, and he finishes them. In the first half, we played quickly and scored with just three passes, which is exactly what we aim for.”
This victory gives Barcelona one of the best starts in their La Liga history. The club also won their first 7 matches of the 2017-18 season and went one better with 8 straight wins in 2013-14. So far this season, Barcelona has netted 23 goals while conceding only 5.
They sit at the top of the league table with 21 points from 7 matches, ahead of Real Madrid, who are second with 17 points, and Athletic Bilbao, third with 13.
1 Comment
Nice blog here! Also your site loads up very fast! What host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my site loaded up as quickly as yours lol