Barcelona reportedly told Robert Lewandowski to “stop scoring goals” towards the end of his first season with the LaLiga champions for a bizarre reason.
This was contained in a newly published biography, which revealed what happened behind the scenes as the 2022-23 season ended.
Author Sebastian Staszewski writing in “Lewandowski. Prawdziwy” (“Lewandowski. The Real One”), claimed that Barca asked the striker to stop scoring goals.
The conversation is believed to have happened after the Catalans were crowned champions under Xavi Hernandez, with two games left to play.
According to Staszewski, Lewandowski was called in for a conversation with high-ranking executives.
At that time, Lewandowski was top of the scoring charts with 23 goals, comfortably ahead of the competition.
“Robert, we need you to stop scoring goals in the last two matches,” a board member reportedly said.
The reason was not tactical, but financial. If Lewandowski hit 25 league goals, Barcelona would owe Bayern Munich an additional €2.5 million in performance-related add-ons from his transfer.