19 February,2019 08:26 AM IST | Berlin | AFP
Robert Lewandowski
Robert Lewandowski hopes to torment his mentor Jurgen Klopp when Bayern Munich face Liverpool in tonight's Champions League clash. Lewandowski, Bayern's top-scorer with 25 goals in 30 games this season, is relishing playing at Anfield when he leads the Germans' attack in the last 16, first leg. "I know that their fans don't want us or me to score a goal or win, but for me personally, in such an atmosphere I'm even more energised at kick off," he told UEFA.com.
"That's what makes it special for me and I'm excited to play in such a stadium. And if you win, it's even better." Lewandowski arrived at Borussia Dortmund as a 21-year-old to work under current Liverpool boss Klopp when neither he, nor the German head coach were yet household names.
"He made a huge impact on my career. I have to be thankful to him because of what we did together at Dortmund," said Lewandowski. "We grew together and it's led me to where I am today. He released that striker's instinct in me and that allowed me to make the next step up. I didn't know that I still had so much potential, more than I thought, and that means he saw something in me that I couldn't see."
Jurgen Klopp
Lewandowski scored eight goals in 33 games in his first Bundesliga season, when Klopp made his name with Dortmund's first Bundesliga title for nine years. More silverware followed in 2011-12 when Dortmund again won the title and added the German Cup with a 5-2 thumping of Bayern Munich in the final when Lewandowski scored a hat-trick in Berlin. The Polish international cemented his status as one of the world's best strikers by scoring all four goals when Real Madrid were routed 4-1 on a golden night in the 2012-13 Champions League.
Dortmund went on to lose the final to Bayern at Wembley and Lewandowski signed for the Bavarian giants on a free contract a year later. He has now scored 176 goals in 225 games for Bayern. Lewandowski sees the Anfield clash as a chance for Bayern to prove themselves after exiting the Champions League at the hands of Real Madrid in each of the last two seasons.
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