Lionel Messi vs Robert Lewandowski: how do they measure up?

The UEFA Champions League quarter-final between Barcelona and Bayern brings together two modern greats. UEFA.com gives some background

This season, Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski have both made seven UEFA Champions League appearances. Top scorer in the competition for the sixth time last season with 12 goals, Messi has scored three this time around, while Lewandowski heads the leaderboard with 13. The Polish international has been in equally superlative form in the Bundesliga, hitting 34 goals in 31 games, while Messi scored 25 in 33 in the Spanish Liga. Both were their domestic leagues' top marksmen for 2019/20.

Have they met before?

Messi celebrates scoring against Bayern at Camp Nou in 2015AFP via Getty Images

Yes, in the 2014/15 UEFA Champions League semi-finals – at the end of Lewandowski’s first term with Bayern. Messi had the better of it over two legs. He struck twice as Barcelona won the first leg 3-0, and while Lewandowski made it 2-2 in the return fixture, Bayern’s 3-2 victory was not enough to take them to the Berlin final – where Barcelona beat Juventus 3-1.

The duo’s national teams met in a friendly match in Warsaw in June 2011, but while Lewandowski featured for Poland in a 2-1 win, Messi did not line up for Argentina.

How do they measure up?

Both players are in their 30s, but still in something like their footballing prime. Of the pair, Lewandowski (at 1.84m) is probably the one you would man-mark from a corner.

UEFA Champions League stats

Messi has won the UEFA Champions League four times already, most recently in 2015, while Lewandowski has yet to lift this trophy. The closest he came was reaching the 2013 final with Borussia Dortmund, losing 2-1 to his future employers Bayern in London.

In terms of goals-per-game ranking, Messi is second in the all-time UEFA Champions League (group stage to final) rankings, while Lewandowski is fifth.

Domestic performances

Messi has landed ten league titles in 16 seasons of senior football; Lewandowski has won nine national championships in the course of 14. Similar statistics, yet their career paths have been radically different.

Recognised as a major talent from a young age, Messi moved to Europe to join Barcelona as a teenager and has stayed at Camp Nou ever since. Lewandowski, by contrast, started out in Poland's lower leagues with Znicz Pruszków before picking up his first league title in his second season in the Ekstraklasa with Lech Poznań. He then switched to Germany, sparkling under Jürgen Klopp at Dortmund before signing for Bayern in 2014. He has been a Bundesliga winner in every season there to date.

Personal life